I Didn't Fall for You, Love Tripped Me!
by Broken Headphones
Summary: Edward starts out his college years with his new roommate, "the male stripper." When talk of a cult begins to rise on campus, Edward takes it upon himself to find out what's going on, and Envy's willing to do anything to keep him in the dark.
1. I Hate This Place

**This is one of the few stories that I write in first person point-of-view. I'm trying to practice my hand in that field. I****t's strictly Ed's view.**

I shoved my hands in my pockets and slumped low in my seat. My dad beside me glanced over, turning his eyes away from the road in a split second, before looking back in front of him. The weather matched my mood perfectly tonight: dark, cloudy, and miserable. I wasn't normally this depressed, but I was starting college and I was going to be living in a dorm room with some weirdo that I didn't even know. To add to that, my poor little brother Alphonse would have to endure his last year of high school without me there to protect him from perverted classmates. My dad didn't understand that I wanted to go to a college near our home, but no, it had to be two cities over.

"Edward, sit up," he scolded in a hoarse voice, breaking the cold silence between us. "Your posture says everything about you. Do you want people to think you're a slob?"

"Sure, whatever." I bit the inside of my lip and turned towards the window again, which was now steamed up from the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the car. "I told you I didn't want to go here. Why did you send in my application without telling me in the first place?" I glared over at the man sitting beside me. "Answer me that and maybe I'll think about sitting up like a normal person."

He stopped at a red light and took the free time to give me a stern look. I returned it by rolling my eyes his way. The light changed from red to green and my dad pushed the gas pedal. He sighed heavily and let his head hang slightly as he said, "Please, Edward, don't be stubborn. You've wanted to come here since you were little. Your _mother_ wanted you to come here as well, remember?"

"Cheap bastard, playing the mother card against me..." I glared at him through narrowed eyes.

Bringing up my mother around me was a one-way trip to the other side. The last guy at my school to say, "Your mother is so fat..." to my face was sent to the hospital in critical condition without even finishing his joke. His friends (and the teachers) quickly learned that mentioning my dead mother to me was like telling the spirit of the Kuchisake-Onna that she was ugly, even if she didn't take off her surgical mask. I had been suspended twice at my old school for that and the one time I punched out an upperclassman for groping my brother. I was protective and sensitive about my family; I was willing to admit that they were weaknesses of mine.

"Shit!" Hoenheim slammed on the brakes, nearly choking me with my own seatbelt. I gagged as it pressed into my Adam's apple and grabbed at my throat. I glared as my dad flipped the already-gone driver off and started driving again. "Sorry, that word slipped out..."

"Took the words right out of mine," I grumbled. Again, he sighed.

"Will you please stop acting like I'm taking you to your grave?" he asked, looking over at me. I pretended to be dead by rolling my eyes up and sticking my tongue out. My dad wasn't amused. "Stop doing that, Edward, your face will freeze that way."

I mimicked his sentence in a nasally voice like I was three years old and rolled my eyes again. Hoenheim sighed and shook his head.

"Edward, I swear... You have got to stop acting like such a little kid."

I glared at my dad and shifted away from him so that I was pressed up against the door. He let out another heavy sigh and stopped for another light.

"Edward, you have to let Alphonse fend for himself. He can fight." Oh boy, here comes the "do this, do that, but don't be like this" speech again. I've heard that speech so many times, I could recite it backwards. "Just for this year, focus on your school books and make some new friends. This is college; you're supposed to have fun and work towards your career. Don't dote over your brother and keep him hidden from the world. Who knows, he might bring home a cute girl that has a friend."

I rolled my head over towards him.

"Dad, I'm gay, remember?" I shot back. "You, of all people, should know. Three years of therapy did nothing to help me through my 'phase.'" I curled my fingers and let them drop into my lap.

Hoenheim sighed one more time and that ended our conversation as quickly as we had started it. For the next half-hour, we rode in silence with just the dull pattern of rain beating on the outside of the car and the sound of the tires on the wet road.

My father and I never got along well. It started when he left Mom in a harsh, violent divorce. Mom fell ill from depression; she stopped eating, she was fired from her job, and she soon gave up on everything and died. Dad didn't return to claim custody over us until after we had finally gotten over everything that had happened between them and settled in with Winry and Pinako. He suddenly appeared, claimed us, and we moved away from them. Alphonse had no heat against him and welcomed him gladly, but I still hated him for everything he had put us through. I even thought of seriously killing him a few times, but gave up that idea because of the torment that would cause my brother.

"We're here," he announced finally, pulling into the parking lot of a dorm building. The rain continued to pound relentlessly against the car. He put it in park, and unbuckled himself. His hands stayed on the steering wheel for a while as I flipped the hood on my red sweatshirt up to cover my hair. "Edward, just try and make it through. If not for me, then for Alphonse. Besides, you can meet all kinds of interesting people in college."

"Shut up and let's go inside," I growled, opening the door. I was greeted by the roaring of rain and the dull vibrations of thunder. My father opened the door as I closed the one on my side and popped the trunk of the car so that I could get my suitcase out of the back. I grabbed it as my dad grabbed my laptop bag and slung it over his shoulder.

After he closed it we made a dash for the door, but still managed to get soaking wet. The dull red of my shoulders and arms turned dark and my face froze when we entered the air-conditioned building. It was still warmer than outside, but I lost all feeling in my cheeks when I finally got to the registration desk. The woman at the computer looked at least forty, with a bright pink suit and lipstick that was smeared at each corner of her mouth. She looked up at me when I reached the desk.

"Um, I'm the freshman that recently enrolled," I said slowly. She scoffed and pushed her glasses up onto her nose.

"I got about twenty of you this morning. I need more information than that," she said curtly.

I huffed and blew a lock of hair out of my eyes.

"My name is Edward Elric." I raised my eyebrows. She turned towards her computer and typed away, upper lip bulging out as she ran her tongue over her top row of teeth. I grimaced at the lovely face she made and she finally stopped typing.

"I see. Your room is 205 on the third floor. Here is your key." She turned around in her chair and rolled it to the small metal locker in the back. She opened it, scanning through the keys before pulling out the one she wanted and spinning back over to me. She slapped it down and printed out a few more papers from her computer. "Here's your schedule as well as a map of the campus and its buildings. Your first class starts at nine; do _not_ be late because Mustang does _not_ wait for students who are late." I gathered the papers as quickly as she was giving them to me. I shoved the key into my pocket and tried to pick up my suitcase only to find that my dad was trying to be courteous by carrying it for me.

"Don't be cute," I said, turning away as the woman tapped onto my shoulder to hand me a calender for my year there. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, it's my job for Christ's sake." She laughed and went back to playing Solitaire on her computer. I inched away from her quietly and turned back around. I looked through the papers she had given me as my dad followed with my bags in hand.

"As soon as I get inside the room, you're gone," I ordered, pressing the only available elevator button. It was right there waiting for me and opened. I held the doors open as Hoenheim entered beside me and placed the bags onto the floor. Once the doors closed, he began to talk again.

"If you meet a cute girl, be sure to get her number."

"Would you _please_ just shut. _Up_!" I bellowed. "You're not funny, you're annoying the hell out of me! Enough with the 'girls this, girls that' shit." I hit my head against the wall beside me. "If you can't accept that I like guys, then don't voice it! I'm tired of hearing it." I gave him a sharp glare. Hoenheim just stared at me for a few moments.

"Fine, I'll be quiet." He turned away and tapped his fingers against his leg.

The tension could be grabbed by the handfuls and broken into crumbs. I literally felt at ease when the doors of the elevator finally opened and I practically ran out into the hallway. I nearly ran into a drunk kid who was bent over a trash can puking his guts up. A girl was rubbing his back and pulling his long, brown hair out of the way of his mouth. She turned back to me, shrugged, and looked back to the guy beside her as he continued to retch.

Hoenheim managed to get through the elevator with my bags and we got directions from the girl where my dorm was.

"Finally," I sighed, pulling the key from my pocket. "Leave my bags here. I'll get them later."

"No, I'm going to carry your bags for you. Now open the door; I want to see where you'll be staying for the next ten months." He grinned. I gave him a look before turning towards the door and sticking the key into the lock. With a swift turn, the lock clicked and I swung the door open. I walked inside and my father followed me inside, placing the bags down and turning the light on. The room was plain, nothing much to say for it. A pair of shredded pants and a black shirt were folded over a chair neatly.

"Wow, this is nice," he said, ignoring the ensemble beside him. "I'm starting to feel jealous. You have this whole room to yourself?"

"I dunno," I replied.

"Turn...off...the light," a voice growled. Hoenheim and I both jumped and looked around the room. We found a long lump on the bed closest to the clothes. Something coarse and black was hanging off the side. The lump curled in, and I yelped despite myself.

"Uh, sorry," Hoenheim said, stepping up beside me. "My son's new here, and..."

"Turn...off...the Goddamn light."

"Well, the least you could do is greet us!"

"Dad, stop making an ass out of yourself."

A hand slithered out of the blankets and the middle finger popped up. My dad growled.

"Dad, just leave. And turn the light out when you do." I hung my head sheepishly as if my roommate was staring at me. He sighed and placed a hand on my head.

"Keep in touch, Ed." He kissed my head, made me curse, and a left quickly, flipping the switch down and leaving me in patch black, save for the digital alarm clock on the nightstand sitting between the two beds. My shins found the bed for me, and I covered my mouth as I cursed again. My roommate didn't acknowledge me. I let out my frustration in a deep breath and dropped onto the bed. The mattress was soft and dipped underneath my weight. The room, despite being dark, was warm and cozy. I smiled and let out a sigh.

College didn't seem too bad so far. I was an early riser anyways, so getting up before nine wasn't going to be a problem for me.

I pulled my sweatshirt off and let it drop to the floor, separating the blankets from the sheets and sliding in under them. I made a mental note to call Alphonse the first chance I got to see how he was doing. He would probably want to hear about what my room was like, what kind of classes I had, and how busy I was going to be during the week. Hearing about the busy college life would probably overwhelm his head.

I sighed and closed my eyes. Sitting in a car for sixteen hours sucked worse than being at a funeral for someone you didn't even know, and whether it was mentally or emotionally, I was exhausted to the core. Falling asleep was a task, though, no matter how tired I was. I felt a chill run down my back, and I could literally feel the hostility radiating from the bed beside mine. Something about the person literally set me on edge and made my heart pound in my ears.


	2. Don't Say That You Like Me!

The bed in the dorm was surprisingly soft, and even though I barely got a wink of sleep, I still felt slightly refreshed when the alarm clock beside me went off at six-thirty. The bed beside me rustled slightly. I sat up against my arm and turned, yawning, as my roommate finally emerged from his blankets, slapped the alarm hard enough to almost break it, and stretched. He yawned noisily and rubbed his eyes with his wrists, muttering something to himself in a language I didn't quite understand. He noticed me staring at him and narrowed his eyes.

There was that cold chill again.

His eyes were - literally, they were! - glowing a violent orchid hue, and he looked as pissed off as a bear woken up halfway through hibernation. His nails were slightly overgrown and his lips were painted with a permanent scowl. Black, coarse hair fell down to his waistline in locks. His skin was almost porcelain white; I felt like telling him to spend a few hours in a tanning bed to gain some healthy color.

"What are you looking at?" he growled drowsily. His voice was thickened with a foreign accent, slightly sexy and alluring. I couldn't place exactly where he could have been from.

"Um, sorry," I replied quickly, throwing my gaze to a pair of lopsided sneakers lying comfortably underneath his bed. "I'm Edward. I'm your new roommate."

" 'Roommate'?" He scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah. You're the bastard that interrupted my sleep." His eyes narrowed again, and I made the stupid mistake of looking up at him when he did. Immediately, I turned my eyes back to the shoes. "Be quieter when you come in, or I won't be nice next time." He flung the covers from his legs and stood up. That was the moment when I realized being his roommate was going to put a lot of sexual pressure on me. That boy had some damn fine legs.

"Wipe that drool off your lip, newbie," he suddenly spat, and I felt at my mouth. Sure as hell, I was drooling. My roommate chuckled. "What? Are you captivated by my dazzling good looks?" He smirked.

My smart ass had to come up with something to say. I just had to shove my foot in my mouth and talk through the laces between my teeth.

"You look like a damn stripper."

The room turned into an ice box. My roommate glared at me. I saw my entire life flash before my eyes.

"You look like a damn _shrimp_."

"Who are you calling small?" I jumped up from my bed, steaming shooting from my ears. My roommate just grinned. "I'm not short! You're just too freakishly tall! If you'd stop growing, I could get taller!"

"Sure you could." He just laughed and picked up the clothes from the back of the chair that I had spotted last night. He yanked on the jeans without bothering to look up at me. "I'm off for awhile. Keep the roof on, will ya." He slung his shirt over his shoulder and turned back at me with a smirk. "That is, if you can even reach it."

He laughed as my frown turned into a sour glare and I chucked my pillow at him, hitting him right in the back of the head. That made him mad. The shirt was abandoned on the floor with his shoes and he lashed out, grabbing my wrist and forcing my face into the mattress. My arms were bent back behind me, searing pain shooting through them from my shoulder to my wrist. I grimaced and groaned at the dull throb.

"Watch what you do around here, Eddy," he hissed into my ear. I shivered from the blood lust dripping from his pale lips. "You don't know who you're messing with. You could turn your back and find your throat slit in two. I'd watch my back and keep to myself."

"Yo, Envy!" Someone knocked at the door harshly. My roommate turned towards the door, completely forgetting me in my pain. "Come on, let's go! Lust will get mad if you're late, and you know that it's my ass she's going to kick."

"Yeah yeah," my roommate, oddly named Envy, replied. "I'm coming, so don't lose your head!" He let go of me and bent down to grab his shirt.

I moved my shoulder around and pulled my face from the pillow as the door to my (our) dorm opened and closed quickly. A rapid succession of curses flowed from my mouth, all aimed at Envy, who was apparently gone too far down the hall to hear my words. I sighed with defeat and pulled out a fresh outfit, hoping I would find the showers before I got lost. Just in case I needed it, I picked up the map of the school I was handed not twelve hours ago and frantically threw my clothes around the room looking for my dorm key only to find that it was still placed in my pocket and that I had slept with it in there.

"Do I feel like an idiot," I mumbled to myself with a slight chuckle.

I folded my clothes and placed them on the end of my bed before leaving. The light of the hallways was harsh, and I had to blink and squint my eyes a few times in order to get used to them. They stung from the onslaught. People around me were just waking up; some guys with long hair were fingering at knots at the base of their necks while one guy with short, spiky, pink tipped hair poked himself in the eyes with his sunglasses in a feeble attempt to shield his eyes from the light. He was skinny and looked pale. My guess was that someone held a party with a _lot_ of beer, and he had drunk himself sick. He was stumbling and knocking into people, and nearly fell against me. He mumbled something about a lamp and moved onward.

One girl was leaned up against a wall, playing with a lock of blonde hair as one guy looked over her. She was smiling sheepishly, looking at his shirt and avoiding his eyes before he gently lifted her chin and kissed her. She smiled against his lips and let her arms lock around his neck, giggling as he moved to tickle her neck. She caught me watching and winked. Quickly, I avoided my gaze to the map in my hand.

There were showers for each floor of dorm rooms, which made sense, and they were only two doors down from my room. How convenient.

I slipped into the bathroom and was sincerely glad to find that it was completely empty. No juniors or seniors were there to snap my ass with a rolled-up towel. I quickly undressed and let the warm water run over my skin. I smelled like the cigarettes from my father's car, which made me scrunch up my nose and grimace. The smell would definitely linger for a few days. I just hoped no one thought I was a smoker; I would actually fit in with the crowd, which was something I would choose dying over.

After a few minutes of letting hot water nearly scald my skin, I turned it off, grabbed a towel out from the closet in the bathroom (after making the cold trip to the other side of the room), and dried myself off as quick as I could. I pulled on my underwear and pants before the door opened, and a man walked in. He was tall, dark-haired, and seemed very smug. I could tell by the small smirk on his face as he walked in and saw me.

"I didn't think anyone was still in here," he said slowly, coal-dark eyes looking me over. "Its kind of early to be taking a shower, don't you think?" He cocked a brow my way.

"Uh, well," I stammered, lowering my eyes to the floor. The man snapped, and I jerked my eyes back to his face.

"Look me in the eye when you speak to me, son." He pointed towards the eyeballs in his head. "Now, as you were trying to say?"

"Uh, well, I got here a little after midnight, and my dad smokes, so I wanted to get the smell off of me." I laughed nervously and rubbed my hair with the towel. I then realized that I had showered with it in a ponytail and felt my face grow hot. The man laughed.

"So, you're not one of those corrupted students that is only here for the sex and the parties?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm impressed. You're probably the second person who's actually worried about his progress in this university." The man turned around and shot a glance over his shoulder. "I hope you're in one of my lectures. I'll be sure to call on you during class." As if that was supposed to be a prize, he grinned and waved before leaving. I stared at him incredulously.

"That was...weird." I pulled my shirt over my head and wrung as much water out of my hair as I could before squeezing with with a towel and pulling my half-damp sweatshirt over my shirt. My stomach clenched and growled at the lack of food inside me. I hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday. I refused to eat anything in the car, even when my stomach was devouring itself. I tightened my soaked ponytail and exited the bathroom. A flood of older students entered as I walked down the hall, and I could have sworn I heard someone yelp.

* * *

The scariest place in the university had to be the cafeteria. It was _overflowing _with tall people. I began to seriously contemplate whether someone was going to step on me and turn me into a splattered mess of blonde and red. Someone bumped into me without even looking back, and I nearly fell flat on my ass. Surely, someone would have at least noticed my presence and tried to step over me like a cat that won't leave them alone.

I just sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, walking into the line in hopes of getting at least something edible in my stomach before it roared out in the middle of class. The line moved very quickly, and you had to either grab a tray of food or a bagel and something to drink and pay for it before you get out. I was nearly run over when I tried to pay for my food by the same guy who was puking his guts up the night before. His girlfriend recognized me and waved, smiling at me with an embarrassed air. I bowed my head towards her and grabbed my tray quickly.

Now came the "fun part": finding a seat that wasn't occupied by a possible serial killer.

I looked through the cafeteria, trying to find some place to sit. I was hoping that there would be a table of nerds that I could squeeze myself into or a table of rejects that would just let me sit there and not ask anything but the occasional question about the lectures planned for the day. The dull roar of the cafeteria continued to distract me.

Something caught my attention before I lost my balance. I thought I heard "Check this out!" before my tray literally flew from my hand and I kissed the ground hard enough to almost break my teeth out of my head. I groaned and rubbed my chin, which was the focus-point of my fall. Laughter exploded through the cafeteria, and embarrassment was the least of my worries.

Envy was turned around towards me, a bemused expression on his face, and the person beside him was covered in the food I was supposed to be eating. His eyes met mine for a moment before they looked over to the person who was now turning around. The older guy, obviously pissed off to the end of the world, turns around and glares at me through sunglasses covered in milk. (Why had I gotten that shit in the first place?) He slipped them off, and the striking resemblance between Envy and him shocked me. The guy blinked a few times, as if trying to bat away the shock, before his eyes narrowed at me.

"You stupid little bitch," he growled in that same, deep accent. I clumsily got to my feet. The laughter died, and everything seemed to have frozen. Other students were silent and focusing on my inevitable ass-kicking. "The hell do you think you are?"

"S-Someone tripped me!" I tried to explain, holding my hands out in front of me and backing away as he advanced. "I swear! I didn't mean to do it..."

"You ruined my jacket." The guy reached over and plucked off my wet, soppy toast, which fell apart in his hands and stuck to the fur on his collar. "You fucking ruined my _jacket_. My girlfriend fucking _made this for me_. What the hell did you expect to accomplish with this?"

"N-nothing! It was an accident!"

"Greed, lay off," Envy said.

"Greed, just sit down and forget it," a scantily-dressed woman advised. "I'll just make you a new one; it's not that hard."

"Both of you shut up," Greed snapped, pointing his finger towards the table as a threat. "Let me handle this."

"Greed." Envy rose from his seat. "Lay off the shrimp. He's too short to do anything."

"Make me." Greed cracked his knuckles and took a fighting stance. Envy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Don't make me do this, bro..."

"C'mon, chick-a-dee. You think you can take..." Greed never got a chance to finish his sentence. Envy's knee was jammed tightly into his stomach, pale fingers fisting his short, dark hair, head bent over the smaller male's shoulder. Envy let go and shoved him away, landing the taller onto his side. By then, the guys had started cheering and hollering, and the girls were whispering to each other. Greed's girlfriend slapped her palm to her forehead and shook her head in shame. She looked up and mouthed an apology to me.

"Greed, stop making a fool out of yourself," Envy advised darkly, cracking his neck. "I don't want to have to do this again."

"Again"? I guessed that Greed got his butt handed to him plenty of times by my roommate.

Greed ignored the advice and threw a punch that nearly hit Envy in the mouth. Envy grabbed his fist and twisted his arm behind him. He leaned up and whispered something in Greed's ear with an evil, impish smirk before pushing the older guy to the floor.

"_Grow up_," Envy snapped. "You're older than me and still act like you're thirteen."

I flinched as Envy shot me a look before he returned to the table, and Greed followed begrudgingly. The cafeteria resumed to its usual clamor, and I went through the line quickly to replace the food I had lost. I just grabbed a doughnut and left the cafeteria as quickly as I could. It was barely after seven-thirty (said the clock on the nightstand), so I decided to wait for another hour before I left to search for my class.

The door to the room opened and closed, and a fist grabbed my sweatshirt.

"What did just tell you this morning?" Envy demanded sharply. "Didn't I tell you to be careful? I _did_." He pushed me back and glared. "My brother is the last person you want to piss off. You just dug your own grave on your first day."

"Well, excuse me for being tripped!" I shot back. "I didn't expect an onslaught of German pyschos to gang up on me!" His eyes narrowed, and I felt that cold chill again.

"_Russian_ 'pyschos,'" Envy corrected. "I am _not_ German. You call me German again, and I'll whoop your ass worse than Greed's." Envy fell back on his bed and glared.

"Sorry." I frowned upon realizing I had dropped the rest of my doughnut onto the floor and threw it away.

"I'm only saying this because I like you," Envy piped up, making me freeze and whip around to see that his glare had softened into a blank expression. "I can tell you're probably a good guy, so I'm just going to give you a fair warning: stay out of Greed's path, and don't get involved with us. You could get yourself killed."

The only thing that really scared me was the fact that I could tell he was serious. He didn't laugh and tell me he was joking, his lips didn't even start to twitch up at the sides like some people do. His arms were crossed and that blank stare remained on his face. I shivered despite myself.


	3. Cue the Excitement!

Envy disappeared. I had turned my back on him for two seconds, turned around to ask him something, and he was gone. The bed wasn't even imprinted with proof that he had been there. The room was warmer, though. It seemed that every time I was around Envy, things became colder than they really were.

_"Stay out of Greed's path, and don't get involved with us. You could get yourself killed."_

That statement brought a lot of questions to my mind, and I could barely concentrate on my lessons. Unfortunately for me, the man I had run into in the bathroom happened to be my first-period professor by the name of Roy Mustang. True to his promise, he called me out during the lesson to correct any problems that the other students had worked out. I was so exhausted by the end of first period that I thought my head was going to burst from stress. He laughed at me every time I jumped when I heard my name being called and struggled to find my point of focus. Of course, when I finished answering, he gave me a strict look that told me to get my head straight. I tried as hard as I could, but concentrating without finding some way to connect Envy's weird behavior into the lesson didn't seem to work.

"Edward!" Mustang called, making me stop in case he wanted to call on me again. I could literally feel the dread. "Come here for a moment." He curled his finger, and I slipped through the crowd of tall people to get to his desk. He was smiling at me and filing papers. "Wait for a moment. I have to talk to you about something important." He watched the other students quickly leaving the classroom. Once he was sure the majority of them were gone, the smile he was wearing vanished from sight and was replaced by a strict, tight line. I felt like I was about to get in trouble.

"Has something been bothering you?" he asked. "I thought you were a serious student. I even gave you a fair warning this morning, and you're acting like you don't give a damn." He cocked his brow. What could I say to him? That my roommate was insane? That he had threatened me twice before ten o'clock? That I had almost been flattened into a pancake just three hours earlier? He might have thought I was just paranoid.

"No, nothing's bothering me," I lied. "I didn't get much sleep last night; I'm still a little tired from the trip. I'm sorry, but I'll definitely be awake tomorrow!"

"You better," Mustang warned. "I'm expecting a lot from you."

"Thanks, sir." I bowed in respect and turned around quickly. I was going to be late for my physics class for sure.

"Elric!" I spun around, nearly falling over the steps up towards the door. Mustang scrutinized me for a moment. "Be careful."

Him too?

"Y-yes sir." I bowed my head again and jogged up the stairs in hopes of making it to my class before I missed too much. My physics class was down the hall from Mustang's room, which was actually quite convenient for me, but the teacher scared the hell out of me. He was large. _Large_. I mean, if he was to give someone a hug, he'd pop their head off like a cap from a run-over water bottle. He was entirely bald except for that one lock of hair hanging over his eyes.

"Yes?" he said when I walked in. Apparently, I had caught him in the beginning of his lesson. He looked me over.

"Um, sorry I'm late," I murmured, quickly moving to the back of the class and grabbing a random seat. The teacher stared at me for a few moments before returning to his lecture. I sighed.

"Got here in the nick of time, didn't you soldier?" I head a sultry voice beside me ask. I jumped and looked over. It was the girl from before, _Greed's_ girl. She had that same Russian accent that Envy and Greed both had. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry about Greed this morning. He's the violent one of the four of them."

"Four?" I asked, ducking my head and pretending to listen to the teacher's lecture.

"You don't know?" The girl chuckled. "Envy's the second youngest. There's Gluttony, the oldest and fattest, then Greed, Envy, and their baby brother Pride."

"What's with the weird names?" I opened my notebook and copied a few notes from off the board so that I wouldn't fall behind the next day. "That list kind of sounds familiar..."

"The seven deadly sins, honey," she replied. "It started with my mother, Tatiana, naming me Lust and my sister Sloth. Her friend - Dante, Envy's mother - copied her and went a little further with four boys." Lust looked over at me and smiled. "I just wanted to let you know that Greed isn't really a bad guy; he hangs out with a pretty bad crowd around here. And Envy's not a jerk either, he's just too antisocial." She laughed. "Okay, I take that back; Envy _is_ a jerk. But he's a good jerk."

"Whatever 'good jerk' is supposed to mean," I mumbled.

I focused back onto the lesson, trying to at least gather some information from it before the lesson was over. All he was really doing was going over the projects we would have, the experiments we would conduct, and I think he came up with a reason to rip his shirt off somewhere in there. I wasn't entirely paying attention, but when the sleeve of his destroyed clothing fell over my head, I nearly fell backwards in my chair. Lust laughed and plucked it off my head.

"Mr. Armstrong is the most eccentric of the teachers here," she said. "He destroys at least five shirts a day. We're still trying to figure out where he gets the money to afford all of them."

"Those poor shirts."

* * *

I entered my dorm room, packed with homework all due the next day, and collapsed on my bed face-first. It was five in the afternoon. I had until nine a.m. the next morning to finish all of my homework for seven different classes. I seriously thought my head would explode. I could feel my head throbbing from stress.

"I'm going to die," I said to myself. "My head is going to explode, and they'll have to hose my brains off the walls."

"What a lovely image," I heard, and sat up. Envy slung his bag onto his bed. "I could have gone my entire life without having to imagine that."

"Oh, so you're actually talking to me." I fixed my messy hair and tightened my ponytail. "I thought you said to stay away from you."

"I did," Envy replied, falling onto his bed and picking out a book from his bag. "But I didn't say I couldn't at least be friendly to you, considering we'll be roommates for the rest of the semester, and I'd rather not have my roommate plotting my death while I'm sleeping. Being friendly and being friends are two different things entirely."

"I know." I frowned. He and I stared each other down before he gave up and pulled a book out of his bag. "So, why did your mom name you 'Envy'?" He frowned and let his book drop to his lap.

"Why does it concern _you_?" he demanded.

"Lust told me," I said. Envy slapped his forehead audibly. I physically flinched away from the sound. "What? Do I not have a right to be curious?"

"You can be curious, but whatever..." Envy picked his book up. "It's none of your business. If I feel like telling you, I might." He flashed a devilish smirk my way before looking back down to his book and ignoring me for the rest of the afternoon.

I spent the next four hours going through my homework, managing to just barely get through without having to have my brains hosed off the walls. Envy seemed to find my mental freak-outs amusing, and would sometimes let out a scoff or laugh when he thought I was too distracted to remember he was there. After a while of reading, he jumped up and pulled out an outfit from the closet near the foot of his bed, tossing it over the chair where his current ensemble had been slung over. He turned towards me, looked as if he wanted to say something, before he stopped himself and quickly looked away, hair whipping around his face. I frowned. He was so weird.

"Say...," he started, pausing for a few moments and biting his knuckle. I could have sworn I saw blood trickling down his finger before he jammed it into his pocket. "Has... has Greed said anything to you today?"

"Greed? Your psychopath brother?" I scoffed. "Of course not. Other than this morning, that bastard hasn't spoken a word to me."

"Good." His voice was cold but shaky. "If he ever does, let me know." He bent down to his suitcase and picked out another black shirt and a pair of jeans that looked like it had gotten into a fight with a pair of scissors.

"Why should I?" I shot back. " 'It's none of your business. If I feel like telling you, I might.'" I gave him a smirk as he turned back to me and scowled.

"Do whatever the fuck you want!" he suddenly snapped. "I don't care!" He threw the dorm room door open and stormed out. I blinked for a few moments. What had set him off? I was just joking with him. Sure as hell, if Greed threatened my life, I'd come running to Envy to let him know his brother was trying to kill me, in hopes that he could actually do something about Greed's temper.

"He's so sensitive about the smallest things," I murmured, crossing my arms. "I wonder what has him so worked up..."

* * *

The excitement started around three a.m. the next morning. It was pitch black outside, cold as hell in my dorm room, and I couldn't get to sleep. Something had my heart racing in my chest. I couldn't even manage to close my eyes. I sighed and sat up. Across the room, Envy was fast asleep. He was snoring. It didn't sound as bad as mine (as I learned from Alphonse, who had taken it upon himself to record me around midnight at Pinako's one night), but it was still funny to hear.

I pulled pants on over my red boxers and searched through my jeans for my key. I quickly realized the pants in my hand were Envy's, and dropped them quickly. My key was in my sweatshirt pocket; I had made sure to put it there so that I wouldn't lose it. And after searching in the dark for a few more minutes, I found my shirt and the key inside the pocket. I snatched up my wallet and quickly exited my room. The hallway lights were extremely bright, and I had to lean against the door and squint from the dull sting in my eyes.

"Ow," I said drowsily. I was too tired to bother with sounding half-conscious. I had a few sleeping pills in my suitcase (they were mainly for allergies, but they worked whether you had them or not) that I could wash down with some water. I bought the bottle and stretched. My body was stiff. I yawned loudly and chugged most of the water down. I hadn't realized how dry my throat was.

A girl walked past me, yawning, her hair a mess. I don't think she realized she was walking around with her top missing, but I didn't bother sending her a second glance. I turned to go back to my room when something outside popped. It sounded like a solid metal box hitting against a concrete wall. I nearly fell to the floor with the shock. My heart started pounding so loudly that I thought _I_ was the reason people were coming out of their rooms. One guy gave me a look.

"What the hell was that?" he asked me.

"I have no idea," I replied, fully awake. He turned to look down the hall as Mustang rushed through. He stopped and looked at me angrily.

"Get back to your dorm!" he shouted. "Get back there and stay! Don't leave until authorized!" I jumped from the harshness in his voice and hurried to do as he said. I came to the dorm room and fumbled with my key. I opened the door. Envy turned towards me, wide-eyed and paler than I thought he could get.

"Shit," he said with a rough sigh. "Where the fuck were you? I thought that was _you_ getting shot!"

"Getting shot?" I asked. Envy's hand flew to his mouth. I panicked. "Envy, what the hell is going on? Who got shot?"

"No one!" he replied. "It's none of your business." He quickly averted his eyes to the foot of his bed and chewed on the skin of his thumb. "This is bad. This is _really_ bad." He didn't realize that his chewing led to him breaking skin, and blood trickled down his hand. I was too afraid to tell him he had hurt himself. The thing I was more focused on was how he was reacting to the sound like he knew what was going on.


	4. Don't Say a Word

Does anyone remember the guy who was puking his guts up the first night I arrived? That sucker was the one who was shot last night. Hardly anyone showed up for classes (about eight of the usual fourteen that were in my class showed for first), and the ones who did were anxious and paranoid. By lunch, most of the talk was about the kid who was killed. His girlfriend was sobbing her eyes out, mascara running down her cheeks, and her eye-wiping had smeared the eye-liner every which-way on her face. She looked like a tiger in a crack-trip. I met eyes with her and wrinkled my brow apologetically. She sniffed, smiled, and stood.

I felt my stomach drop. She was walking over to me. What was I supposed to do? Well hell, she was already two feet away, so running was no longer an option.

"Freshman," she said. "Hey, um, sorry about how he treated you." She tried to laugh but sounded as if she was choking. "I just wanted to apologize for him. He was rude to people smaller than him, but he was nice if you knew him." She smeared her makeup again and smiled, despite her red, puffy face. "So, uh, yeah. That's all I wanted to say."

She started sobbing, but smiled despite so, and trotted back for her table. I sighed, but actually managed to find a table. Half the tables were empty, with most of the people who bothered to even get up surrounding the girl with the broken heart.

I heard loud gibberish a few feet away from me and looked over. Envy was in a torrent of an angry, explosive rant. He was flailing his arms around and yelling at Greed, who was bent over the table with his fingers constantly combing themselves through his hair. Envy asked him a question, and Lust snapped at him. He gave her a harsh glare before asking Greed something in a calmer, smoother voice. He was still red-faced from his yelling, but he seemed relaxed.

I could have sworn I heard my name in Envy's next question. He looked almost worried about something. Greed was having a panic attack.

Lust met eyes with me. She said something to Envy, and he looked over. After half a second, he turned back and sat down. I sighed and sat at a free table, opening the water bottle on my tray and taking a large gulp. I didn't take my eyes off of Envy's group. Those three were suspicious, and they knew something about what had happened that night. Envy was the most anxious; he tapped his fingers against the table, nails hitting wood in a show of nervousness, before Lust asked him in English to stop, and he did so with a foul word.

"Excuse me, may I have a word with you?" I looked away from the group in front of me to meet eyes with a young woman. She seemed to be in her early twenties; her hair was long and blonde, pulled up into a sloppy bun behind her head, and soft, hazel eyes. Her mouth was a strict line, and on one hip was supporting a small handgun. She noticed me staring and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt anyone with this." She pulled her coat over it to conceal it. "My name is Riza Hawkeye. I'm a detective that was asked to help work on this case. I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

"Huh?" It took a few moments for Riza's words to click. "Oh! Uh, sure." I ducked my head and panicked. Oh shit, what if I gave her any clue to Envy being the culprit? I'd wake up to find my throat slit in two!

"Do you have any idea who might have committed the murder?" Riza asked once she was comfortable. I could feel the blood leave my cheeks, and I'm sure she could see it as well. "I've asked multiple people, and most have agreed on a student or two."

"R-Really?" I asked, faking a smile the best I could. "Who would that be?"

"Please don't joke with me," she said. "I know that some kids your age will cover for students that are older and bigger than they are because you want to protect friends or that you don't want to be hurt by them. But rest assured: none of the information we receive from other students will be leaked to the suspects, and your name will be completely safe. You won't have to worry about the other students getting to you." She smiled. "It's completely safe to tell me anything."

I felt the color return. I could let her know as much as I knew, and Envy couldn't get a hold of me! I felt extremely relieved.

I let my eyes drift over to Envy's table slowly. Lust was _glowering_ at me. Her chin was resting on her hands, folded together neatly, and her dark lips were pulled into a straight line. I shivered and looked back to Riza. Her golden brow was raised in expectance.

"Well, is there something you would like to tell me?" she asked hopefully.

I shrunk in my seat, mumbling, "No ma'am, I don't know anything."

"You don't?" she asked. Her voice lowered. "Are you sure you're not just covering up for someone. It's okay to tell me."

"I really know nothing," I lied. "Please, just leave me alone."

"You don't understand..."

"The midget wants to be left alone," a voice jeered. I jumped and looked up. Envy was sitting on the table beside Riza, head cocked to the side teasingly. "Midgets are known to get violent when angry. Wouldn't it be better for you to just leave him alone before something bad happens?" He flipped a coin and snatched it out of the air without looking away. Riza's eyes glazed over coldly, and she frowned at him.

"Are you threatening me?" she asked in a cautious tone. Envy laughed.

"It's not a threat; it's a warning." He tapped his headband. "There's a slight difference, you know." He smirked as Riza narrowed her eyes. Envy looked content and amused.

"...I see." Riza stood and bowed her head towards me. "I'm sorry to have bothered you. Please..." She took out a small card and handed it to me. To be polite, I accepted it. "...if you know anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"Uh, sure," I said, sticking the card into my pocket. "Thanks."

Riza nodded and gave Envy one last stern look before she walked away, passing the table with Greed and Lust. Envy helped himself to the seat across from me and froze me. He was silent for a moment.

"...What did you tell her?" he finally asked. I perked up.

"What?" I asked in a surprised tone. "You think I told her something?"

"Sure. You were talking to her." Envy rested his cheek on his knuckles. "I want to know what you said to her."

"Nothing!" I clenched my water bottle in my hand, denting the plastic dramatically. "I don't see why it's any of _your_ business what I say to her. Why are you so worried about me?"

Envy stood and leaned close to me, poking my shoulder.

"I'll do _anything_ to protect my family," he hissed. "If any rumors start leaking out about my family or me, I'll gut you in your sleep and shove the insides down your throat." I physically flinched away from him. He was insane and belonged in a mental hospital. "Are we clear, Edward?"

"_Crystal_," I replied sourly, glaring harshly up at him. He smirked.

"Good boy. You and I might just be friends."

"The_ best_."

* * *

I opened the dorm room door and dumped my books out onto my bed. It had been three days since the shooting, and not one person had given Riza the information she had wanted. She remained near the campus as a guard of the grounds. She was frustrated. I was too scared of my roommate and his insane family to tell her I suspected that Envy might be behind that boy's death.

"Good afternoon, midget," Envy greeted cheerily, acting as if he hadn't threatened me just hours earlier.

"Stop calling me a midget, dammit!" I yelled.

"The what would you prefer? Shrimp? Molecule?" He grinned.

"Shut up!" I turned away from him, pulling my math book open almost hard enough to tear it at the spine. "Just leave me the hell alone! I'm trying to do my homework." I turned away from him, burying my nose deep into my book. Envy snorted. He seemed to be amused by my anger.

"You realize that I'm just joking with you?" he said in a slightly annoyed tone. "You don't have to take _everything_ I say seriously. I'm trying to be nice to you, you know."

"Yeah?" I turned around. "Well, last time I checked, I don't want someone who is threatening my life to act all nice and buddy-buddy with me!" I huffed and turned away again, glaring at my book as if it was the real bane of my existence. "If you really want to be nice, leave me the hell alone!"

I could hear him flinch away from my words. I was scared, pissed off, and I didn't want a damn thing to do with him. The room seemed to get colder as a contemplated more and more about why I hated him. He threatens me, he acts as if nothing it wrong when I glare at him, he's nearly broken my arm, and it's only the fourth day of school! I felt the urge to go talk to the woman with smeared lipstick on her teeth and ask her if she would swap me with someone else so I wouldn't have to put up with a roommate with a vendetta against life.

"...You think it's _me_, don't you?" he suddenly asked. I gasped at his mind-reading capabilities. He laughed. "I knew it. You think I'm the one who pulled the trigger and killed poor little Trevor, or whatever the hell that guy's name was, but I'll let you in on a little secret: _I didn't_. I'm not a murderer."

"Sure!" I turned and threw my math book at him. He lunged out of the way as my book slammed against the wall where his head had previously been. It chipped the dull, beige paint on the wall. Envy had his hands on his head. He looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he questioned.

"What the fuck is wrong with _you_!" I shot back. "One second you're trying to make nice and pretend to be my friend, and the next you're acting as if you want to kill me! Get your head straight and stop messing with my mind!" I panted. He looked surprised, hands still over his head like he was expecting the roof to cave in, and straightened up.

"Are you done?" he asked. I sighed, fell back onto my bed, and nodded. "Good." He let his hands drop, stood up, and grabbed my collar. "Keep your Goddamn voice down, you idiot! The smallest little move from you could end up with your ass being killed. Take my warnings seriously!" He pushed me back against my bed. "God, you have to be the _dumbest _person I have ever...!" He stopped when someone knocked on the door. He gave me one last warning glare before he opened the door.

"Envy, is everything all right in here?" a woman asked. She had the same same accent Envy did, and she reminded me of Lust, but her voice was deeper, more mature than sexual. "You sounded as if you were about to break the door down."

"I'm fine," he spat bitterly. "It's none of your business what goes on in my dorm room."

"Oh, it's _all_ my business." The woman pushed past him harshly. She caught my stare and stopped. Envy panicked. He said something to her in Russian, but she yelled something at him that made him flinch away from her. She smiled at me. "Well, what do we have here? You didn't tell me you have a roommate," she said sweetly. "What's your name?"

"Edward," I said with a tight voice. "Edward Elric."

"Oh, well, it's very nice to meet you, Edward." She bowed her head. "My name is Dante. I'm Envy's mother; I teach psychology."

Dante was gorgeous. She had dark, onyx hair that was cut just underneath her ears and cold, navy eyes. Her skin was the same porcelain white as Envy, but the air around her made the room even colder. I lost all of the feeling in my fingertips.

"Envy's _mother_?" I asked. She cocked her brow. "I-It's just, you two don't look alike at all!" Envy grumbled something and fell back onto the foot of his bed.

"Oh, we don't?" She faked a pout. "He looks too much like his father, in my opinion. May he rest in peace." She held her hand up. "Has my son been bothering you? If he does anything, let me know." Envy groaned in embarrassment, cheeks fire engine-red, and fell onto his back.

"I will!" I said with a grin, receiving daggers from the cherry on the other side of the room.

"I hope to see you around the campus, Edward," Dante said with a smile. She turned to Envy and uttered something sharply. He bolted up and said something back, only to be interrupted by Dante shouting in Russian. Envy looked pained, and quickly ducked his head. I opened my mouth to say something to her or him, but she turned back around. "Goodbye, Edward." She waved and left the room as gracefully as she had come. I looked over at Envy, who was playing with his fingernails nervously.

"Are you oh..."

"Everything's fine!" he said loudly. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Everything's _just fine_."


	5. Beautiful Hangover

**Warning: Drunk Envy!**

I groaned and felt at my head. Since when did I start waking up with headaches? I sighed and looked over at the alarm clock. It was past nine already. I panicked and began to search around for clothes before I remembered that it was Saturday, and there were no classes today. I relaxed and noticed that Envy was nowhere in sight. He must have set his alarm to snooze. That, or I probably was too deep in sleep to hear it go off. I lifted the blinds over the windows to blind myself and peek outside. Two teachers stood against a tree, one smoking and one showing off pictures to the smoker who looked as if he wanted to gut the other. I recognized the black-haired teacher; couldn't place his name though. He came in three days ago before to talk to Roy about something before he was shooed away for showing off pictures of a little girl to one of the students while we were taking a quiz.

The sun was hot even through the glass of the window. I spotted most of the other students outside. A few were throwing a Frisbee around, running and laughing. One girl was hit with the red disk and refused to play with them anymore. A smaller group had secluded themselves to a table underneath a tree and one was playing guitar. Faint, melodic notes could be heard from one of the girls. She was holding a small pack of paper in front of her, tossing her head this way and that to move a lock of hair in her face; it didn't even reach her eyes and was too short to move with a sharp breath.

I let the blinds fall and realized that my headache was still throbbing in the back of my head. I massaged my temples and forced my eyes shut. I stopped. Saturday. That meant that I could call Alphonse without worrying about him being in school!

With a rush of excitement running through me, I bounded onto my bed and snatched my phone up from the nightstand. I punched in the number and nearly broke my phone doing so. The phone rang twice before I heard the cutest voice in the world (Is it weird for me to consider my brother's voice cute? Ah hell, who cares!).

"Hello?" I heard on the other end.

"Al!" I said happily. "It's so good to hear a familiar voice! I hate it here." I fell back against my bed. Alphonse laughed, a slight auto-tune added to his voice from the phone reception.

"You call me after a week of being in college, and the first thing you do is complain?" he asked jokingly. I sighed and fell back against my bed. "I'm not surprised. Okay, I'll listen. What's going on up there?"

"My roommate is fucking insane, someone's already been frigging killed, and my physics teacher ripped his shirt off on the first day!" I let out a big breath. "It's so weird up here."

" 'Weird'?" he asked with a laugh. "I figured you'd fit right into the crowd with how 'eccentric' you are, brother."

"Hey!" I bolted upwards, shaking my fist in the air as if he could actually see me. "I don't fit in with weirdos! And besides..." I lowered my voice to a harsh tone. "My roommate's threatened to kill me already."

"What?" Alphonse's smile had probably disappeared by now. He took things like death-threats very seriously, including when I made them. "Has he done anything to you, anything dangerous?"

"Well, other than flipping Dad the bird, turning my arm around my back and almost breaking it, threatening me not to tell anything to the police, and biting his fingers till they bleed... nope, nothing dangerous." I could just see Alphonse giving me his "serious-face." "He's insane! I swear, someone needs to put him in a straightjacket."

"What's he doing right now?" Alphonse asked. He sounded worried.

"God knows," I replied. "He's not in the dorm room right now. I'd prefer not to know his business 24/7, thank you very much."

"Okay, I see." Alphonse giggled. "You like him."

"WHAT!" I nearly fell off my bed. "Are you doing drugs? Did May's brother slip you something? I know that bastard had it in for you the second you asked May out! Has he done anything to you?"

"Not at all." Alphonse sounded surprised that I had accused him of trying to drug my brother. "In fact, he's busy with LanFan's family. They've been giving him hell ever since he proposed to LanFan. It's actually kind of enjoyable to see him turn red from embarrassment; it's your kind of thing, isn't it, brother?" I laughed with amusement. "You're okay with him marrying LanFan, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" I only sounded overjoyed. Truth was, a few years back, Ling and I used to go to the same school. He was one grade above me, and we were friends despite it. I had a huge crush on him (it's all his fault I'm gay!) and asked him out. How awkward those last two months were when he turned me down and told me he was straight and was already dating a girl halfway around the world from his home country. I still kind of liked him, even though it had been two years since I asked him out. Running into him was still awkward, especially after I met LanFan, who gave me a reproachful look and hugged Ling's arm possessively every time she saw me.

"He's said he wants you at the wedding," Alphonse continued. "He wants you to be his best man! How awesome is that?"

"Great," I said with a sigh. "Just great; yeah, I'll do it." I blew a lock of hair out of my face. "How's May doing?"

"She's doing fine!" Alphonse seemed to brighten. "When can we come visit you? I want to see what college is like!"

"_No you don't_," I said with a laugh. "Just a few nights ago, I went to buy myself a bottle of water, and some chick walked right past me without realizing she wasn't wearing a shirt!" Alphonse died laughing on the other end of the line. "It was kinda creepy! Also, on our first night, some random dude was puking up into a trashcan. College life isn't as glamorous as you think it is." I slumped back against my pillow.

The lock in the door clicked.

"Hold on," I said quickly as the door swung open and Envy and Greed walked in, laughing. "I'll have to call you back. Something came up."

"'Kay, brother." I closed my phone without bothering to say goodbye. Alphonse was cool; he'd wait for me to call him back. Envy stopped and waved, falling down onto his bed with a heavy _thump_.

"Hey there, Edward! Were you calling your _padruga_?" he asked teasingly. "How cute."

"My what?" I asked.

"Your girlfriend, shrimp!" Greed snapped. "Were you calling your girlfriend?"

"What?" I grimaced. "Hell no! I was calling my brother!" I growled as Greed laughed. He was holding a small, clear bottle in his hand. It took me a few moments to realize that it was an alcoholic drink. He must have noticed me staring because he shoved it under my nose so that I could get a nice, big whiff of it.

"Want a drink?" he offered darkly. I grimaced and pushed his hand away.

"No thanks! That stuff reeks."

"C'mon, shrimpy. It tastes better than it smells."

"Greed, leave him alone." Envy threw a shoe and missed. "You're as drunk as hell already, aren't you?"

"Nope!" Greed denied, turning towards him. "Unlike you, I don't have a low-tolerance for alcohol! I could drink a whole case and not lose my head." Greed grinned like it was something to be proud of and took a long, deep swig of the clear liquid. I could literally smell the belch he let out, and Envy probably could as well. His pale lip curled and he waved his hand in front of his nose.

"_Lovely_," Envy snarled. "Now get out before you curdle the curtains with that breath of yours. I can smell the stupid thing from over here."

Oh great, I've been forgotten.

"Only if you promise to come to the back-to-school party that that dude from Geometry is holding!" Greed pointed a sharp finger at his brother, helping himself to a seat beside me. I moved away from him. Envy growled and looked at his bare feet. I didn't realize that he wasn't wearing shoes. "Hey, you said you would come! I even told him you were coming, and he seemed ecstatic!"

"Because he's a fucking creeper!" Envy shot Greed a glare. "You're scaring my roommate."

"What do you care?"

"I don't. I'm pointing out a fact."

"Eh." Greed shrugged and stuck the alcohol under my nose. The stupid lummox had too strong of a grip on me to move away. "Look, just one try, and I'll leave you alone!"

"Greed."

"I don't want it! I hate alcohol!"

"It's not that bad."

"_Greed_."

"I hate it! Don't give that shit to me; I'm too young for it anyways!"

"Greed!"

Both of us jumped. Envy didn't like the fact that he was being ignored. His eyes were narrowed the the point that you had to squint to see any color in them. His teeth were grinding together.

"I'll go," he spat acidly, "but I'm _not_ going to touch a single beer can. At all. If I get forced to drink like you're doing to my roommate now, I'll kick your ass and leave in a second. Now get off him." I was close enough to kissing Envy when Greed released me and moved away, throwing his alcohol can into the trash bin by the door.

"Oh hell no!" Envy jumped up. "I'm not going to get caught with _another_ bottle in my room. Roy thinks he should be putting me through rehabilitation with as much trash you leave here every time I let you into my room! You're going to hold onto that until you get to your own dorm, or I'm going to break it over your head."

On second thought, being ignored wasn't too bad. I didn't realize how amusing familial arguments were until now.

* * *

I sighed as my final math problem had been finished and looked over at the clock. It was almost midnight, but I wasn't tired yet. I still had some sleeping pills, and I remembered Roy saying something about a convenience store two blocks away. I might pop in there some time during the year, but it probably wasn't one of those twenty-four-hours stores that are open constantly.

The door opened, and I expected to see Envy walk in, going on a tangent about how stupid his brother was and why he had left the party. What I did _not_ expect to see was Greed walk in with my roommate thrown over his shoulder and said roommate being unconscious. For a split second, I kind of hoped he had gotten his ass handed to him in a fight. Greed dropped his brother onto the bed next to my feet and sighed.

"Such a low tolerance..." He ran his hands through his hair. "One glass of spiked Coke, and he's fucking passed out like he did Tequila shots! How embarrassing!" Greed slapped a hand to his forehead. "At least he didn't say anything stupid. If he did, however, Lust would have killed him."

"He's passed out, and you put him on _my_ bed?" I demanded. "Why?"

"It was closer to the door." He shrugged. "Hey, when he wakes up, you might not want to be around. He gets a little... grabby."

" 'Grabby?'" I repeated. "What do you mean by that?"

Greed chuckled evilly. "You'll just have to find out for yourself, shorty," he said with a dark grin. He turned to leave.

"No wait! Don't leave him on my bed! Help me!" I reached out, but he was already closing the door, laughing his ass of and most likely returning to the party. "Damn you, Greed!"

I looked over at the corpse slung over my bed. He was breathing, unfortunately, but otherwise he seemed stable and still unconscious. I pulled my foot from underneath his chest and curled up, hoping he would stay like that for the rest of the night, and possibly half of tomorrow. If he got "grabby" in the way I thought he would, I didn't want any part of it.

And then he groaned and opened his eyes. I squeaked. He sat up, yawning like he had been asleep, and looked over at me. His eyes were glassy, cheeks red, and he looked like a kid that had been woken up on the first day of school. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me.

"Hey, um, you're on my bed, and I kinda want to go to sleep..." I stopped when I realized he was giving me that dazed-out look and didn't seem fazed by me. "Uh, no really, I want to... What the hell do you think you're doing!" I didn't mean to yell, honestly, but Envy just suddenly threw his arms around my neck, burying his face into my shoulder. I froze, afraid that if I moved any at all, he would suddenly wake up and accuse me of trying to rape him.

He said something that was muffled by my shirt. I looked down, unable to see his face from the matted masses of black.

"Uh, what was that? I didn't quite understand..." I tried to smile, but I didn't think of it as too convincing. Envy looked up at me, slightly pouting. His bottom lip was stuck out slightly as he repeated his sentence. God knows what kind of language he was speaking. It sounded like a mix of English and Russian and maybe a few gibberish words stuck in there. He seemed to understand what he was saying, but I didn't.

"I don't understand a Goddamn word," I said halfway through his tangent. "Speak English, damn it!" I felt him put a hand on my thigh (too close!) to hold himself up, leaving one arm still around my neck. "G-Get your hand away from there!"

And then my heart exploded. I couldn't very well scream because Envy's mouth had been placed heavily and sloppily over mine. And there goes my first kiss.

"Mmn...!" I flailed and wrestled to get him off me, but he was stronger and heavier. I hate to admit it, but I kind of liked him kissing me, even if it was sloppy. His tongue entered my mouth, and I felt the muscles in my hands turn to gummy worms. Goddamit, Edward, keep your head straight!

"Get off!" I pushed him away. He was unconscious again. "He fell asleep. He fucking fell asleep." I glared at him. He seemed so content with himself, asleep like he hadn't just tongue-raped me. I sighed and tried to drag him back to his bed so that I could sleep, but failed miserably and just left him on the floor. He didn't seem to mind. Without bothering to do much more, I turned the lamp on the nightstand off, stripped down to my underwear, and pulled the blankets over myself. My mouth was wet. I wiped it off on my arm and grimaced. Not the most romantic kiss I thought I'd get from a guy.

And then I cursed him to the deepest pits of hell to burn for all eternity.


	6. My Heart is Pounding

A week went by after the kiss, and Envy didn't seem to remember a thing about being hauled away from the party or stealing my Goddamn first kiss. I, on the other hand, was ready to hit him in the head multiple times and see just how such a small amount of alcohol in a _Coke _would render someone like him unconscious or make him drunk enough to kiss his own roommate. He seemed to be suspicious of something about that night, and I wasn't doing too well of a job of hiding any signs. For one, when he woke up on the floor that morning (complaining of back pain) he asked me how he ended up there. It took me ten seconds to answer him because I was flabbergasted at his memory, and my story wasn't all that convincing in the first place.

He kept his distance for a few days; avoiding me by coming in after curfew, sometimes sleeping in his brother's room, doing anything he could to spend less time around me before he returned to acting normal. He started biting his fingers again, and there were small, purplish sores on his fingertips from where he had bitten into the skin. Lust got onto him a few times for his bad habit, but he didn't seem to care.

Envy sat across from me now, reading some sort of horror novel with serious concentration. I glanced over at him from the side. He didn't seem to notice me. I looked back to my book and reached a math problem that I didn't quite understand. The book was of no help, considering it just showed colorful diagrams in red and blue instead of actually explaining the problem step-by-step. I hated textbooks like those.

"Great," I murmured, unintentionally catching my roommate's attention. "I'm gonna take a break..." I closed my book and placed it in front of me, stretching out and popping my elbows and back. I groaned and sighed at the wave of relief on my body.

"Armstrong's tough, eh?" Envy inquired. I didn't think about answering; it came out automatically like it did when I was exhausted and bored.

"Yeah," I replied. "The book doesn't help me much either..." I stood and stretched again, twisting my neck to pop it. My body felt stiff. I had spent the last two hours in the the same cross-legged position with my school books in my lap and hadn't moved much. "I'll be back."

"Don't run into Greed!"

Best advice I've _ever_ gotten from a friend. Wait, since when did I start referring to Envy as my friend? That damn idiot stole my first kiss!

"Sure, whatever."

I left the room quickly and released a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. I couldn't seem to relax around him anymore. Well, I hadn't really relaxed around him in the first place, but now I couldn't even let my shoulders drop past my ears. He was just too creepy and jumpy. The other day, I found he had left his bag with his books in the room and was nice enough to bring it to him at breakfast. Instead of thanking me like a normal, polite human being, he snatched it away hastily and asked me if I had looked inside. Of course I didn't look inside and told him that. He gave me a sour look and walked away.

Bipolar bastard.

I had to turn back around because I had passed the drink machines while I was ranting about Envy. He _did_ have his good points, though. He was nice sometimes, and even gave me advice about not complimenting Armstrong in the morning because he tended to be a little too happy and would sometimes rip his shirt off in the middle of class and go through teaching his lesson shirtless. One girl made that mistake, and no amount of therapy that Hoenheim was capable of getting from work friends could ever get that horrifying image out of my corneas.

He was also very... Goddamn me and my sexual attraction... He was cute. _Very_ cute. Hell, I was attracted to him! Other than his annoying habit of biting the skin off his fingers, his paranoia, and his bad attitude, he was my type: tall (not that that's a problem...), sexy, mysterious. And now, I have to go bang my head on the wall because I have officially begun to think like a girl.

And then I had to turn back around because I had just passed the machines _again_ and made sure I was there before I began to space out again.

"Hello, Edward!" a voice behind me greeted cheerily. I turned around. It was the teacher who flashed his family photos at everyone who was breathing. He was holding one up just now, and I then realized that I had just allowed myself to be cornered. He probably knew me from Roy; he must have mentioned my name a few times. The picture was of a small blond-headed girl in a pink and yellow dress. She was holding a lemon-yellow parasol above her head and was grinning up at the person taking the picture (my guess was that it was him), and she seemed totally unaware of the falling cup of lemonade that was halfway in its journey to the ground.

"Isn't she adorable?" he droned as I gave him the deadest stare I was capable of. "She's turning three tomorrow. Oh, I just can't wait to call her tomorrow and wish her a happy birthday right from my classroom! She'll be so excited to be getting a phone call from Daddy at college!"

"Cool story," I replied, turning to the drink machine to get something with caffeine in it to wake me up. "I don't have time to talk to you now, sir. I'm packed with homework from Mustang, and..."

"Roy?" He perked up and the picture disappeared magically. "Oh, that bastard! He's so cruel with his homework and his tough lessons. I bet even a genius like you is having trouble in his class." The man nudged me.

"You bet," I remarked, bending down to grab the drink that fell out into the pocket beneath the number and letter keypad. I turned around. The goofy smile over his face had changed into a frown while I was pretending to be interested in what he was saying. "Uh, did I say something disrespectful?"

I was always taught to respect my elders, assholes or not. If I said something rude or criticized someone's dress or personality in a way that wasn't helpful or polite, Mom or Alphonse would always give me a small knock in the head that told me that what I said wasn't allowed. I never talked down to someone older than me or let my tongue slip. My father was the only exception, and he deserved every coarse word that was sent his way. I refused to give him any respect at all for abandoning us, and there's no way I'd start.

"No, you're innocent," he said, straightening up from a hunched-over position. "I don't see it in your eyes..."

"See what?" I suddenly felt nausea creep into my stomach and the thought of putting caffeine into my stomach suddenly made me want to puke.

"Hostility." He patted my head, which did _wonders_ for my self-esteem. "Keep clean, kid."

I watched him as he walked away from me solemnly, hands tightly clenched at his sides as he whistled a stiff tune. He turned the corner at the end of the hall and his song faded into a dull echo. I couldn't get the face he made out of my head nor the tone of his voice when he said the word "hostility." It sent shivers down my spine. I managed to get back to my dorm room without opening my drink. To my surprise, Envy was perched on the edge of my mattress, looking over my homework. He looked up when I entered.

"Hey, welcome back," he greeted. "Was there a line at the door?"

"No," I shot back. It came out harsher than I thought. "Here, I don't want it." I tossed the drink at him. He caught it just before it hit him in the nose.

"If you didn't want it, why did you buy it?" He got up from the bed, mumbling something about me killing him for being on my bed, and placed the wet, sweating bottle onto the nightstand.

"I bought it and then didn't want it." I fell onto the bed and sheepishly pulled my work onto my lap. "Some teacher said something and it ruined my appetite." I could see him physically tense up and he turned to me with bright curiosity in his eyes.

"What teacher?" he asked. He sounded like he was talking from the other room instead of within two feet of me.

"I don't know; the one with the glasses," I said absently.

"Hughes." He sighed.

"What?"

"Nothing." His head snapped up. "You having trouble over there?" he added quickly. "That one problem... You've done it wrong five times."

I could feel my face grow hot. "S-So? Why do you care?"

"It's just..." He grabbed the bottle off the nightstand and snapped the cap open. "I've already aced his class, and I had problems with that same lesson myself. Greed tutored me. I could help if you're willing to accept it." He took a long, thoughtful sip from the bottle, closing his eyes as he tipped his head back.

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me?" I said sharply.

He shrugged. "Hey, it's your class, not mine."

I hesitated, thought for a moment, and scooted over on my bed to make room for him. He grinned and jumped up, plopping down easily onto the mattress beside me. He leaned up against my shoulder, looking over the problem and whispering to himself. I could feel his heart beating coolly in his chest, pounding against his ribcage and my right shoulder blade. My heart, however, was beating twice as hard as his was. I was probably as red as my sweatshirt. I could feel his breath against my neck, hot and moist like he had a fire in his throat. My skin tingled when he inhaled, cold and sharp from the sudden temperature drop, and goosebumps popped out all over my skin.

"Okay, I see the problem," he suddenly said. He reached down and slipped my pencil from between my fingers. His hands were soft and warm. I felt a small shock, and he did too. He let out a gasp of surprise and dropped my pencil. "Damn, that was smart." He shook his hand and grabbed the pencil again.

"Sorry," I said lamely.

"Not your fault." He shifted. "Okay, see here, you used the wrong formula." He started a new problem down just underneath my last try. He copied the problem from the worksheet. "Here, it says to convert grams to atoms, see?" He didn't wait for an answer from me. "You made the stupid mistake of multiplying here instead of dividing."

"_Really_?" I asked, feeling entirely dumbstruck. I watched carefully as he reworked the problem, snatching up my calculator and and punching in the problem. He laid it out and wrote out the answer.

"See?" he said teasingly. "There's no reason to prove that the phrase 'dumb blonde' is true."

"Go die!" I snapped, pushing him off my bed. He laughed and grabbed the back of my shirt, taking me down with him. I landed on him heavily, hearing him grunt as my body slammed against his. I probably knocked the breath right out of his lungs. I groaned and pushed myself up. Envy's eyes were clenched from the soreness in his chest. I realized just how close we were, and he did too. He grinned at me and I felt some scary vibes radiating from him.

And there was his hand on my ass.

"Well, well, shorty, you should have just said something..." He winked. Afraid to further embarrass myself, I jumped up.

"S-Sorry! I didn't think I pushed you that hard..." I could feel the heat in my cheeks only get hotter. Envy grinned and got up so that he was sitting cross-legged.

"What are _you_ apologizing for? _I'm_ the one who grabbed _your_ ass."

"Uh, yeah..." I quickly covered myself, feeling naked and exposed after that.

"Oh calm down, I'm not going to rape you." Envy pulled himself up to his feet, still grinning. "You're expecting it now, so there's no real point in doing it anyway."

"WHAT?"

Envy laughed evilly. I couldn't tell if he was serious or just pulling my leg.

* * *

I had gotten lost. Leave it to me to get lost after a few days of actually walking around these halls. I should already know how to get around the campus, but I had a knack of getting myself lost, even in familiar surroundings. I sometimes managed to get lost in my own home, which Alphonse said was excusable because geniuses couldn't do some of the simplest things like tie their shoes. He said that Einstein had to paint his door a striking scarlet because he always got lost. The only problem was I _wasn't_ Albert Einstein, I was Edward Elric.

"Damn it, where's the elevator?" I growled to myself. "This isn't funny at all..."

"What are you doing out past curfew?" a voice asked strictly. I froze. For a second, I thought we had a psychic teacher because I hadn't even turned the corner yet.

"I don't see why it's your business," a voice spat, acid dripping from the words. "I can be out past curfew if I want. It's just a suggestion." I recognized the voice, the Russian accent that coated each and every word. It was my roommate, Envy.

"Yes, it is just a suggestion, but with a murderer hanging around one of these floors, we don't want to take any chances with our students."

"Ha!" The laugh sounded painfully forced. "A murderer? Prove it."

I felt myself shaking, knees knocking together like pots hanging in a kitchen. I fought with my voice to keep from crying out. I fought with my body to keep from throwing myself over my roommate and taking him to the ground. I was too scared to look around the corner. Sweat tickled the back of my neck, glued small hairs to my skin. My breath was shaky and uncontrolled.

"Envy..." The voice was soft, encouraging. I recognized it as Hughes, the teacher Envy named and the one who had a daughter. "Please, go back to your room. You don't want Edward thinking poorly of you, do you?"

There was hesitation.

"How did you know he was my roommate?"

"I'm a teacher. If there's any information I want to know, I can get it." I could hear the smugness in his voice. "And I know who your mother is and what she did."

"That's _not_ information you're granted to have," Envy sneered.

"But I watch television, Envy." I couldn't tell what was going on, what their expressions look like or what they were doing. "I recognized her. She killed him, didn't she?"

"Shut up, Hughes."

"She's forcing you to do this, isn't she?" Hughes continued. His voice was softer, more endearing this time. He sounded genuinely concerned. "All you have to say is 'yes' and it will end right here. You can go through the rest of your school year without having to worry about her."

"You don't understand a _thing_," Envy said, close to shouting. His voice was shaking. "Stop acting like you care."

"But I _do_. Come on, Envy, I have a kid waiting for me. I'm late already. My wife could be worried about me."

"She won't have to be." I heard a click and my tongue stopped in my throat. "I can end her worry right now."

I felt my stomach drop.

"D-Dont," Hughes pleaded. He seemed to be desperate by now. "Envy, please, I can help you."

There was no reply. A gunshot went off, and I slapped my hands to my mouth, begging my vocal chords not to betray me. I prayed to God that I wouldn't scream. My stomach clenched and disappeared, and I was nauseous again. When I was sure that the coast was clear, I rushed over to the trash can in the corner and let out the contents of my stomach. The taste of half-digested food and stomach acid stuck on the roof of my mouth and on the backs of my teeth. I grimaced and quickly exited the building. I managed to catch the number of the building as I left.

Just my luck, I was in the wrong building.


	7. Lovesongs, They Kill Me

I threw the door to my dorm room open and slammed it shut, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Envy was sitting on his bed, biting his fingers again. He didn't acknowledge me. His face was paler than it usually was and he was sweating as well. His hands were shaking, and I didn't think he could get a good grip on his skin with his teeth. He was mumbling something to himself in Russian. I felt angry. I stormed over, catching his attention, before cracking my hand hard against his cheek with enough force to almost throw him out of the bed. He grabbed at his colored cheek, looking at me with a slight flash of betrayal and shock in his eyes. He asked me something in Russian before realizing that I didn't understand what he was saying and changed it to English. "What was that for?"

"Because...!" I stopped myself just in time. I was about to spill the fact that I knew he was a killer. "You grabbed my ass," I finished weakly. My voice cracked. Envy looked taken back.

"For _that_?" he asked in a distraught tone. "You have _got_ to be kidding me..."

His eyes widened slightly as his voice trailed away. My face was an open book; I was well-aware of that fact. He could probably tell from the pale, sweaty disposition I was holding in front of him, heart pounding. I was still out of breath. I took a deep, calming inhalation and let it out as I fell onto my bed.

"_Wis neiche_?" he asked slowly.

"Don't speak in a language I don't fucking know!" I yelled angrily. "I can't answer anything if you don't speak in a language I know."

The room was silent, and tension coated the air between us. I was afraid of saying anything and breaking the silence in case it was something that was going to keep me alive. The door opened slowly. Roy stuck his head in the room, eyeing Envy and me carefully. Envy tensed up. I took a few deep breaths. "You two okay in here?" he asked stiffly. His eyes were beginning to turn red. I stood up hastily.

"We're fine," I replied through a choked throat. "Why do you ask?"

Roy took in a shaky breath. "Nothing," he said. "Stay in here and don't leave." I didn't have time to ask anymore questions. He closed the door hastily and moved down the hallway. I had a sinking feeling that he already knew something was wrong. I turned to Envy. Guilt was written all over his face.

"You did something," I said. "You did something, and I know it." My voice, despite my wanting to be strong, shook at every other syllable. Envy looked like he was about to burst into tears at my accusation. "Why?"

"You don't know her." Envy looked up at me harshly. "If you knew what she was capable of, of what she was willing to do, you'd have no choice." His eyes flashed. I swallowed the fear that clogged my throat. He stopped. "You know, don't you?" He looked at me accusingly. He stood to his full height, towering half a head over me. "You know what I did... You were spying, weren't you?"

"In the wrong place at the wrong time," I shot back, looking up to meet him eye-to-eye. "I wasn't spying; I get lost easily." He made a noise that sounded like a defeated snort.

"You won't tell anyone," he said. I let out a surprised squeak. He wasn't demanding me; it sounded like he was begging me not to let anyone know. From afar, he probably would have looked sinister, but up close he was weak, pathetic. He reminded me of a little kid who was begging his younger sibling not to tell mommy he had poured a bucket of sand on his head at the playground. I felt like patting his head, but that probably would have gotten me killed or a harsh glare.

"How do you know I won't?" I challenged. I never gave up without a fight.

"I don't _have_ to kill you," he snarled. "I could if I wanted to."

"Then what's stopping you?" I cocked my brow his way. "You killed Hughes, and you killed that first kid as well," I ranted. "What's to stop you from killing me? I still have Ms. Hawkeye's number card; any time a confession comes out, I'll give her a nice little call and you'll be hauled off to jail." I almost felt triumphant. A smile broke out on my face.

Envy chuckled.

"You think that calling her will get me out of your hair?" he asked. "There's more to it than that, dear roomy. She'd have to have proof, and where do you think the proof would come from?"

That triumphant feeling of mine instantly died. It was stepped on, ground into the asphalt, and left for dead.

I suddenly felt a falling sensation. I didn't quite understand what it was until I was back against my bed, hands held up above my head tightly, and Envy pinning me against the mattress. He was leaning close to me. I could feel his hot breath against my lips and nose. His hair tickled my cheeks and forehead and neck. I felt myself blush. His violet eyes locked onto mine. His eyes were narrowed into a soft glare, none too menacing. He looked more as if he was searching my face for any signs of weakness. My surprise was painted over my face. He smirked and leaned closer. I tried to sink as much of my head as I could into the mattress.

"Do you remember...," he started, tilting his head so that the locks hanging on his neck fell over onto my shoulder. "Do you remember that night when Greed took me to that creeper's party?" He smirked. Where was he going with this?

"Uh, yeah," I replied, trying to think straight. "Y-Yeah, I remember."

"Perfect. Then you can tell me..." The hand he was using to hold himself lifted to move hair back behind his ear, but it was useless because the locks fell back against my cheeks. "...What happened after I passed out?" There was his sexy smile again, lips pulled back to show his teeth. There were small lines across his lips that trailed up and down like he had been scarred by years of chapped lips. I suddenly felt the urge to kiss him again, despite my fading grudge against his stealing my first kiss. I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. "Did I..._do_ something?"

His voice had to be the sexiest thing I had ever heard. He was taking advantage of those dashing good looks of his.

"N-No, you didn't," I said quickly, squinting my eyes shut and trying to force the sexual urge to kiss him to go away. "You didn't do anything!"

"Then why did I end up on the floor?" He leaned closed. I could feel his breath heavy against my skin.

"Greed put you there!" I lied desperately. "Er, well, I did, but he put you on my bed first and I tried to move you so I could sleep! You were too heavy, so I just left you there." This was really not turning in my favor.

"Oh? So _you're_ the reason I had to walk around with back pain for a week?" I could have sworn that the room dropped in temperature again. "Well then, it sounds like you have to make it up to me."

"I'm not the one who spiked your drink!"

"Yes, but you _are_ the one who left me on the floor."

Whatever argument I had come up with next was gone in an instant. My mouth had been covered quickly by Envy's. He was kissing me yet again, this time consciously, aware of his actions as his moved his pale lips against mine professionally. I felt something coil in my stomach as he tilted his head to the side, fitting our lips together like he had done this every day of his life. I hated myself for letting my eyes slip shut slowly and moving back against him. His mouth was warm against mine. Any frustrations either of us had between us earlier was now lost in the heated kiss that was being performed by the two of us. Why wasn't I fighting back against him? Why wasn't I thrashing and screaming and trying to throw him off? Why wasn't I fighting to get away from him and out into the hallway where I could still catch Roy and tell him everything I saw... er, heard?

Oh, right. I liked him.

My mouth was easily coaxed open by his, and his tongue slithered past my lips. Even then, I didn't wake up from the heated daze I was in. In fact, it seemed to only pull me in deeper into it, and I couldn't even think straight. My mind was scrambled to the point where I could not even think in normal words. I reminded myself of Envy when he got drunk, which was less of a compliment than being told you're fat.

"Mmn!" I snapped back to my senses and jerked my head to the side, which left my neck and cheeks completely exposed. "W-What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What? _You_ didn't seem to mind." I fought back a gasp as something hot and wet slid across my jawline. It didn't take me long to realize it was his tongue.

"D-Don't do that!" I struggled and kicked, but he was definitely stronger than me and held me in place. "I just watched you murder someone! This is weird!"

"That's your definition of 'weird'?" he asked. "How unlike mine."

"Get off!" I turned back. His eyes made me stop. They were filled with a sort of emotion that scared me and praised me. Want, lust. His expression showed one of insatiable hunger. I couldn't come up with anything smart or witty or really insulting. "You're fucking insane."

"Oh, I'm _so_ glad you noticed."

* * *

I didn't want to go back to my dorm room yet. I decided quickly that not only did I hate the very existence of my roommate, but I also really loved it when he kissed me, which made me hate myself for it. I spent most of my time the next week in the library, doing my homework and reading the occasional psychology book. The librarian, a small, black-haired guy with big glasses, took a liking to me and even waved when I came in every day and left for my dorm. His name was Fury, if I remembered correctly, and was very good with electronics. He had an anachronistic radio on his desk that would play fuzzy, soft piano music that you could hear if you strained your ears.

Today it was playing one of Bach's pieces; I couldn't quite place the notes or remember the name, but it was a calm, soothing piece that made me want to close my eyes and fall asleep. The sun was hiding behind dark clouds, casting shadows over the library and turned the corners of the room black. I pulled my sweatshirt tighter around me, shivering. The school was too cold for my liking. I secretly wished that we'd have at least a weak of ninety-degree-plus weather to heat this stupid place up. Not like it really mattered, though. It would turn to a freezer in two seconds once the heat was gone.

The chair scraping across the floor across from me brought my attention back to reality. Lust stood in front of me, hand on the back of the chair and one on her hip, with a slight scowl on her darkly-painted lips. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders and contrasted with her skin. Her eyes were the same dark color as Envy's, but she didn't seem to resemble him as much as Greed did. (Or would it be Envy resembled Greed, since the latter was born first?)

"I want to talk to you," she started in her sultry voice, sitting down in the seat in front of me. "It's about what Envy did..."

"No need to apologize; I'll keep my mouth shut." I stood to leave and move to another table, but Lust lashed out and grabbed my hand tightly.

"No, it's about what happened between you and him, back in the dorm room," she said, easing me back into my seat with her eyes. "He says that he feels bad about it, and well, he'd apologize in person, but he's not so good with those kinds of things. That last part is my opinion, by the way," she added quickly. I flushed.

"Oh, so he... he told you what happened?"

"No, and he wouldn't tell Greed either, even when he threatened to tell Dante about it." Lust moved hair out of her eyes. "God knows what he'd make up to get Envy in trouble." She sighed, tapping the table with a gloved fingernail before turning back to me. Her eyes had the same, pleading light in them that Envy's did the other night. "Envy likes you, you know. He says he doesn't want to get you involved in anything dangerous."

" 'Dangerous'?" I asked. She nodded. "Other than him and his liquor-loving ape of a brother, what could be considered 'dangerous' here?"

"There's a religious group involved in this school," she said. "Everyone's talking about it. The talk is about the group resurfacing again after ten years." I cocked my head unconsciously.

"Like a cult?"

"If you want to call them that, you could, but not to their faces. They're considered the 'dark past' of this school." She sighed as thunder from outside shook the building and lightening cracked against the sky, lighting the corners of the library for a split second before returning them back to darkness. Rain pattered against the windows. "They called themselves 'God's Forgotten.' Their basis lied in the fact that God had a picky attitude about his followers: coming to church every Sunday, no sex until marriage, homosexuality is wrong, blah blah blah." She waved her head for every "blah" in that sentence. "Point is, I think he might have gotten himself involved with these people because of his sexuality."

"He's gay?" I asked in disbelief.

"Bisexual." Lust twirled a lock of hair in her fingers. "We had a fling back in high school, but that was just it, a fling. It was nothing serious for either of us. We slept together once and both agreed to never do it again." She smirked.

"...And those images will _never_ be removed from my mind."

Lust laughed.

"I'm just joking; we never slept together. Kissed, sure, and he was a really good kisser." I silently agreed against my will. "But after a few weeks, we broke it off and decided to just stay friends. Then Greed hooked up with me to piss Envy off and succeeded for a few days. Envy soon blew it off and dealt with it." She folded her hands.

"Oh, so he's dated girls?"

"No, just me." The smile soon dissipated. "The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to help him in any way you can," she explained. "He's under a lot of pressure, and I'm worried about him."

"Why?" I asked, not bothering to use the filter between my lips and my mouth. "He's just a friend of yours, right? I'm sure you're worried about him, but..."

Lust pulled the glove of her left hand off and held her hand out to me. Her nails were painted the same black as her dress and hair. On her finger was a small, beautiful diamond ring. It shone even in the dim light of the library. "Brother-in-law," she said calmly. "Or, almost."

"...Holy shit."

"Thanks for the support." She rolled her eyes and pulled her glove back on. "Ask any of the teachers about 'God's Forgotten' and see if they can tell you anything. It's probably better that I keep my mouth shut." She stood quickly, looking around the library worriedly. "Don't tell Envy that I said anything. He'll get mad at me if he finds out I talked about anything except the situation between you and him."

"Sure, your secret's safe with me." I waved. She smiled and waved back before silently walking away and leaving the library. I bit my lip and looked down at the table. "God's Forgotten," I repeated to myself. I could have sworn that I heard it somewhere before. I bit my thumb and tore it away from my mouth. I punched in a number in my phone and bounced my leg up and down in anxiety.

"Hello?" I have never been so glad to hear my dad's voice in my life. I wasn't even that excited to hear it in the first place, but I was grateful to hear someone answer the phone.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Edward? Well, this is a nice surprise."

"Yeah, whatever, I just need to ask you something." I tapped my fingers on the table in front of me. "Have you ever heard of a group called 'God's Forgotten?'"

There was silence on the other line.

"It sounds familiar. I think I heard of it from somewhere..." He must have been scratching at his beard at this moment. "Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. I was just curious. Thanks for nothing." I hung up quickly and shoved my phone back into my pocket. The storm outside worsened and I quickly exited the library, rushing a wave towards Fury as he was fixing his old radio with its parts scattered over the counter.

A cult in college wasn't uncommon, but a cult that kills random people didn't seem to make any sense to me. I saw no real point in it. Senseless killing disgusted me, and I wasn't sure I could live with the fact that my roommate was a killer and I had remained silent instead of telling Roy about what I heard. Instantly, I started thinking about my younger brother. What if he was suddenly a target? I did tell Envy that I had a little brother, and Greed was aware of that fact...

If those bastards touched him, I'd strangle them with their own insides.


	8. Little Brothers

I blinked, and Halloween was already around the corner. I was passing all of my classes with "amazing" grades, to put Roy's words into use. Envy continued to tutor me with Roy's half-math-half-chemistry work, and we acted as if that kiss had never happened or he had never threatened me. He even started shooting a wave my way when we saw each other. And my stupid self greeted back with a wave or a nod when I tried to strictly remind myself that he was a _psycho_. Fortunately for me, though, he hadn't touched me since. Lust and I continued to talk to each other. I found out that she was only a year older than me (nineteen) and Greed was two years older than her. "He'll graduate from college in two more years," she told me, "because the degree he's going for calls for six years in college."

I tried to bring up God's Forgotten around her a few times, but she always seemed to shut her mouth and "focus" on her books. She sometimes shot me cold-hard glares, which shut me up. She was nice and motherly at times, but at others she was cold as ice. Those eyes of hers always managed to get what she wanted to say across without a single word uttered from her dark lips.

The dorm room was silent. Outside, an orange moon was sitting in the sky like it belonged there at all hours. Wind made the glass of the dorm windows fog up and become cold. The neighbors were holding a Halloween party, and I had no doubt that alcohol was involved with it. Greed tried to convince Envy and me to come and enjoy ourselves, but Envy wouldn't hear of it and blasted music from his headphones loud enough for me to hear the words clearly. Greed tried to get me this time, but I ignored him, remembering my last little adventure with alcohol. He finally gave up and went next door by himself. He was whooping clearly through the walls. Envy growled and slammed his fist against the wall behind him. The music only got louder.

"Damn them!" he growled. "Greed is doing this purposely. He knows it pisses me off."

I rolled my eyes, saying, "And you're surprised?"

"No, I'm not." Envy sighed, putting down the book he was trying to read. "I give up. I'm not even going to _try_ to do my homework until those idiots cut the damn noise down!" He shouted the last part of his sentence in case they could hear him. They probably could, because the music got even louder.

"Halloween isn't for three more days... What has them celebrating?" It was more of a question for myself, but Envy didn't seem to understand the meaning of "rhetorical."

"Because Open House starts tomorrow, and they won't be able to drink or party for the next few days," he replied.

" 'Open House?'"

"It's when the school holds some sort of carnival or something, and families come to see their kids and have a good time, blah blah blah." Envy rolled his eyes. "It's cheesy and cliche and annoying. It'd be less trouble to send everyone home rather than have a bunch of happy-go-lucky soccer moms come see their kids grow up."

"That's one way to put it..." I couldn't hide the sarcasm in my voice. "What about your family; do they ever come see you? Other than your mom and Greed, I mean."

"My family?" Envy cocked a brow. "Well, aren't you just curious?" He crossed his arms.

"Lust said you had two other brothers besides Greed."

"Lust can't keep her mouth shut to save her life, can she?" Envy shook his head. "Yeah, I have two brothers. An older one, Gluttony, and a younger one, Pride. Gluttony is in an asylum right now, maximum security. I _highly_ doubt I'll see him any time soon." He twirled a lock of hair in between his forefinger and thumb. "He started eating people. Did it for four years until he was caught, and we never knew! I'm surprised he didn't try to bite my ear off when I was asleep. Though that might explain why he always bit me when Greed and I ganged up on him."

I cringed from the neutrality in his voice.

"Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault he went crazy." Envy turned from lying on the wall and unceremoniously let himself fall against his bed. "My brother Pride, however, is fucking adorable." I couldn't help snickering at this point. Envy shot me a glare. "What? I'm not allowed to think my little brother is adorable?"

"I didn't think 'adorable' was even part of your vocabulary," I said. Envy threw a shoe at me that went just over my head.

"I'll throw it lower if you say something stupid again."

"Are you calling me short?"

"Yes, yes I am."

* * *

At two in the afternoon, I was glomped by someone from behind and fell flat on my face. The attacker laughed like it was nothing, even though people were staring in surprise. I recognized the laugh and sat up, turning my head and getting a mouthful of wheat-tinted blonde hair. After pulling out the hairs out of my mouth, I grinned like a pure-grade idiot and nearly killed the glomper.

"Al!" I gushed. "I have never been so happy to see you! Why are you here?" My brother just grinned and stood up, helping me to my feet.

"Nice to see you too, brother," he said sarcastically. "Dad got an e-mail from the school inviting us to the Open House thing today. I begged and pleaded with him until he'd let me come see you. He brought along Ling and LanFan," Alphonse added with a whisper. "Just thought I'd give you a warning so that you wouldn't be caught off-guard."

"Thanks," I hissed back. "Where is he?"

"He's back with Dad in the parking lot." Alphonse jerked a thumb back towards the elevator. "I had to get instructions from the woman downstairs where your room is. Come on, show me where you're staying! I wanna see it!" He started bouncing up and down like he was three years old. I sighed with defeat and took my brother's arm. He cheered, ignoring the older students around us staring with incredulous looks. "So, will I get to meet this roommate of yours? You haven't even told me his name yet."

"If you're lucky, we won't run into him." I couldn't hide the venom in my voice, and I could sense that Alphonse heard it. "I just don't want you to meet him, Al."

"No, I understand. It's okay; I won't stick my nose in business that isn't mine." He smiled and pulled his arm from my hand, taking it with his. "You're not embarrassed by this, are you?" Although I was blushing, I simply shook my head and gave his hand a squeeze. "Good. I wasn't going to let go of your hand anyways."

I elbowed him as we reached my door and stopped, feeling in my sweatshirt for my key. When I finally got it, I opened the door. Alphonse was inside before I could even move. He was sitting on Envy's bed, kicking his legs against the carpet and looking around like he was inside the temple of the Dalai Lama. His eyes were big and round. "This is so cool!" he breathed. "No parents to boss you around or anything!"

"Not really cool," I said, sitting across from him. "Did you forget what I said to you?" I gave him a look. His eyes narrowed.

"No, I didn't. And Dad asked me to look something up for you; it's in the car, so I'll get it for you later." He crossed his arms. When he got serious, he really meant to look it as well. "Whatever danger you feel might be in this school, stay out of it, okay? We already lost Mom, and I don't want to lose you." His eyes softened and he looked like a lost little puppy. I wanted to grab him up and squeeze him until his head popped off. But I restrained myself and nodded.

"So!" Alphonse clapped his hands together. "How have you been? I don't want to go to that carnival thing just yet. I want to have you all to myself while Dad's still trying to find his way around." This was how I knew Alphonse still held a grudge against him for what he did to our mother. It was the little things he did that showed just how evil someone with a face like his could be.

"I've been okay," I said with an approving chuckle. "How have you been faring with Dad?"

"We've been okay." He looked back to me from the ceiling. "Dad has a girlfriend, you know."

"Oh God." I rolled my eyes. "What's she like?"

"_Horrible_." Alphonse stuck out his tongue as if he had tasted something bitter. "She's just awful! Like last night! We were getting ready to get up early in the morning so that we could come see you today, and you know what she said?" Alphonse scrunched his nose up and said in an obnoxious voice, " 'You're dropping everything to go see some blonde boy that doesn't even like you? Why waste your time trying to get him to like you when you promised to go on a date with me? Ha-rumph.'" He pressed his cheeks together and made a noise that mimicked a duck being stepped on. I couldn't help but laugh and fall back, clutching my stomach as it became painful to laugh. I started crying.

"Did that amuse you?" Alphonse asked with a proud grin.

"Very much!" I managed to get out. I sat up and took deep breaths to ease the pain in my gut. "Thank you for getting rid of all the stress I've had so far this year."

"Anytime!"

The dorm room door opened, and a boy around the age of nine ran inside and jumped onto the bed behind Alphonse, giggling wildly.

"Pride, I told you to behave!" I recognized the voice as Envy's. I cursed mentally as he shut the door behind him and stopped, looking surprised at Alphonse. Then he looked at me. "Damn, I think I'm seeing double."

"No, you're not." I jerked my head at Alphonse. He recognized that as our "out of the way" signal and stood up from Envy's bed.

"Nice to meet you!" he said when he was standing, flashing a smile to Envy. "I'm Alphonse, Ed's younger brother." Alphonse held out his hand for Envy to shake.

Envy was silent, looking him up and down. His eyes were cold before they flashed and softened. A smile made his lips twitch. "Envy. Nice to finally meet you." He took Alphonse's hand in his. Alphonse jumped when he did but shook his hand and pulled it away hastily. He stuck it in his pocket and sat down beside me.

"Envy!" The boy, I assumed was Pride, was on his knees and waving his arms around in the air. "Pick me up!"

"Ugh, you're too heavy!" Despite, his arguments, Envy grabbed Pride underneath his armpits and hoisted him up. "Pride, this is Edward, my roommate. Ed, this is Pride, my brother."

"Hi!" Pride grinned widely and waved, knocking Envy in the mouth. The older grumbled something and sat down on the bed.

"Oh, so this is the 'adorable brother' you told me about?" I teased. Envy blushed and shot me a look.

"Shut up." Envy ruffled Pride's hair.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Alphonse gushed. "Can I hold him? Please?"

"Uh, sure?" Envy put Pride on the ground. The younger boy raced over and leaped into Alphonse's lap like it was a landing mat. Alphonse caught him and put his hands underneath Pride's armpits, starting in on a conversation about the younger's life. I couldn't help but smile. Alphonse had always been the baby, and I held him like he did Pride when I was younger (sometimes I hit him in the head with a book because he got all of Mom's attention), but he never got the chance to hold a younger brother or sister like so. That was probably why he liked little kids so much.

Envy made a sound between a cough and a laugh, and I turned to him with a glare.

"You're doting," he informed me.

"Thanks for the warning," I spat. He smirked and looked back to Pride and Alphonse.

"Hey there!" The door swung open, making all of us jump, and Greed strode into the room like he owned the place. Lust wasn't too far behind him. "You didn't tell me Pride was here. How mean, Envy."

"How in God's name did you get in here?" Envy demanded.

"Picked the lock." Greed seemed proud of himself. Behind him, Lust rolled her eyes.

"He wouldn't leave me alone until he saw Pride," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I told him that you'd be angry."

"Hey there, kiddo! Lemme see ya!" Greed bent down and stuck his face into Pride's. With a growl, Pride wrapped his arms around Alphonse's neck and turned away from Greed, nuzzling his face into Alphonse's shoulders. Greed moved to see him. Pride moved again, peeking up to look at Greed. When they locked eyes, he turned away and whimpered. Envy sighed.

"Greed, he doesn't like you," he said plainly. "Stop trying to play big brother."

Greed turned around and gave him what was probably a menacing glare because Envy returned it with a devilish smile. Lust rolled her eyes again and growled, "_Boys_."

Pride hopped down from Alphonse's lap while Greed was distracted and scrambled to Envy's, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck. He glared up at Greed with a new found bravery. Envy put his arm around Pride's shoulders. Greed glared at Envy, who was giving him a dead-serious look. Greed muttered something in Russian, to which Envy replied with something smart aleck. I looked over at Alphonse. He was trying to figure out what they were saying and seemed confused. Lust noticed and patted his head.

"It's better you're confused," she said. Alphonse just nodded and looked at me.

"Let's go, Al," I said quickly, pulling him to his feet as I stood up. "I'll explain everything later."

**I'm ending it here because I'm sick and lazy. Do not question me.**


	9. Jerks are Jerks

**I'm feeling better now, so here's the next chapter.**

Alphonse rushed to the car and opened the door. I was right behind him, playing lookout for our dad and a blonde broad with her arm looped around his. We had always done this when we were little, sifting through things we weren't supposed to while the other watched for Mom or Dad, but we sometimes switched places. Usually, it was Alphonse playing the smarter brother and the lookout at the same time while I was the one doing the sifting, but today it was the opposite. Of course, knowing me, I wasn't taking the role of the smarter brother. I was the cheerleader, egging Alphonse on to find the papers quickly and rapidly waving my hand as a signal to hurry up. He was going as fast as he could.

"Found it!" he cried with satisfaction. I threw my hands in the air in my own act of celebration. He pulled away from the door and closed it. In his hand was a fold-out folder and a small stack of papers fit neatly inside it like a fast-food taco. My stomach growled. "This is all the information I could find from the God's Forgotten thing Dad told me about. I found a few news stories online and some online articles and printed them out for you." He handed me the folder with a stern look.

"Thanks Al!" I wrapped an arm around his neck and gave him a big smack on the head. He flailed.

"Don't kiss me unexpectedly!"

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, but I couldn't help the big grin on my face from showing. "This should give me all the info that I need." My fingers twitched at the chance to open the folder and flip through the pages. I couldn't help it; information to me was like meth to an addict: It was essential to my existence. Or that was what I told Dad whenever he questioned my constant reading. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this, Al."

"Sure I do!" he replied with a grin to match mine. "Let's stop by your room so you can drop that off and not have to carry it around at the festival! I want to go have fun!"

"Yeah, sure, let's go." I slung an arm around my brother's shoulders as he went on about how school was and about how all his teachers had such high expectations about him and he was so stacked with homework that he barely saw May anymore. He even said that she got mad because he said he would rather stay home and study for a test than go on a double date with her and Ling and LanFan. I just laughed.

"_Girls_," I said and rolled my eyes. Alphonse laughed at my reference and elbowed me. "So, what do you want to try first? Darts? Rides?"

"Oh God, no rides!" Despite his pleading, he laughed. "I can't stand fair rides; you know that!"

"Sorry, sorry, don't kill me." I pulled my key from my pocket and unlocked the door to my room as we returned. Envy and his lot were gone. _Good riddance_, I thought bitterly. Knowing Envy, that poor boy Pride would probably grow up to be like him and Greed. That cute, innocent smile of his would be gone and replaced by a copy of one of Envy's trademark smirks. Soon, he'd be killing too. I placed the folder onto my bed. A hand lashed out from a lump on my bed and fingers wrapped around my wrist. I screamed. Alphonse did too. I dropped the folder, papers scattering, and fell against Envy's bed. The covers were thrown away and a childish grin met my horrified expression.

"Pride!" I gasped. "What the he... What were you doing under my covers?"

"I scared you!" he cried triumphantly, dancing around and twisting his feet in the covers. He fell down face-first into my pillow and sat up, still grinning. Alphonse, hand over his heart, smiled and then laughed. I, however, was not amused. My back hurt from hitting the bed. The papers were bent and strewn everywhere. I felt myself scowl and Pride grinned over at Alphonse. He looked at me and the smile was wiped clean off his face. He fell back onto the bed, his feet still tangled in the covers, and stuck his lip out. "Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"Just a little," I growled, standing up. Alphonse rushed over and plucked Pride from the bed as I attempted to gather the papers. "This is going to take forever to put back in order..." I grabbed the papers as quickly as I could and placed them into the folder. I turned as Alphonse was cheering up Pride. The poor kid seemed to be on the verge of tears. I felt guilty.

"Hey, uh, Pride?" The boy looked over at me, wiping at his nose. "I'm sorry for being mad. It wasn't your fault." Okay, so it was a lie, but it was a lie that managed to make the boy smile and stop crying. Alphonse helped by lashing out and tickling the poor boy so that he was screaming instead of laughing.

"Goddammit, Pride!" The door opened and Envy waltzed in with Dante behind him. She frowned at Envy's choice of words but didn't say anything. "I told you not to leave! I take my eyes off you one minute, and you disappear. How did you get in here, anyways?" Envy snatched his red-faced brother off the floor. Alphonse looked disappointed.

"Greed picked the lock for me," Pride said matter-of-factly. "I asked him to."

Envy shot a nervous glance to Dante as she let out a small laugh and didn't say anything after that. He noticed me watching him and looked back to Pride, making sure to keep his eyes cast down. He didn't even look Dante in the eye.

"...Don't run away from me again, Pride, or tell me where you're going next time," he said strictly. "Otherwise, I'll tell Rose."

"Noo!" Pride looked like he was going to start bawling. "Don't tell Rose! I'll be good, I promise!" He threw his head into Envy's shoulder. The older brother sighed and patted the younger's head.

"I won't tell her." Envy placed him back on the bed. He looked at me and faked a smirk. "You look a little ruffled; did you get into a fight with your bedsheets or something?" I frowned, and his smile only got bigger. "Don't tell me you lost to cheap fabric."

"Oh shut up!" I snapped, sitting on the folder to hide it. Dante tilted her head, and I just leaned to one side, using a hand to hold myself up. She frowned. "Your brother jumped up out of nowhere and scared me." Even saying that I felt stupid. Alphonse giggled. I must have been blushing.

Envy smirked and messed his brother's hair up.

"Envy," Dante started. Her voice was cold as ice and void of emotion. My roommate visibly tensed and looked over at her, still avoiding looking her in the eye. "I need to talk to you about something. Come here." She curled her finger towards herself. Alphonse noticed him hesitate. His brow came together and he looked at me worriedly. I stared at Envy's foot. Slowly, Envy left the room. Dante excused herself and him and closed the door. Alphonse looked to me.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"She's a scary woman," I said simply.

* * *

"Eddo! Hey there!" I was caught off-guard when Ling slung a heavy arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a side-hug. Even with the warning, I was still surprised. "It's been years! I haven't seen you in so long!" He grinned at me and all I could do was smile back sheepishly. That was probably one of the reasons why I was (and still am) in love with Ling. He was always smiling. I rarely saw him with a frown. His long, soft black hair was pulled into a tangled ponytail at the base of his neck that would probably be brushed out by LanFan later. His also wore the same yellow jacket over tank-tops.

"Hey, Ling, long time no see," I replied with an uneasy grin. LanFan was leeching his other arm. That was probably why he only hugged me with one arm. "I heard from Al that you and LanFan are getting married. Is that right?"

"Yep, it sure is!" LanFan nodded.

"Congratulations." I smiled and did my best to hide my slight disappointment that Ling would be taken permanently. "I also heard you wanted me to be your best man?"

"Yeah, are you willing to?" His brow furrowed. I grinned so wide that my cheeks began to hurt.

"Hell yeah!" I elbowed him. "When's the official ceremony?"

"Well, we were hoping to hold it around Christmas so that, you know, you could be off and not have to worry about missing any days." Ling waggled his eyebrows and my knees got weak. I cursed myself for letting him do that.

"Sounds cool." I leaned around Ling and smiled at LanFan. She gave me a scrutinizing glower before softening it to a plain frown. "Hey there, LanFan. Congrats."

"Thanks." She smiled weakly. She probably thought I was over Ling. She was so wrong.

"Hey, where's Dad?" I asked, looking around the fair grounds. Kids were running around with their older siblings and parents and laughing their butts off. I would have loved to join them had I not been worried that my life was going to end. "Al said he was with you."

"We ditched him," Ling said, pulling his arm free from LanFan. She looked at him in disbelief. "He and his girlfriend were getting too lovey-dovey, so we hightailed it before they could tell we were even out of the car!" He laughed, and so did I. LanFan just sighed. Ling suddenly turned on her. "Hey, LanFan. I want to talk to Edward about the wedding alone."

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"Come on, just a little man-to-man talk!" He kissed her head. "I'll see you later, okay, honey?" I would have growled at him calling LanFan honey on other circumstances, but I restrained myself as the dark-haired girl said she would call him and walked away. I suddenly felt myself being pulled to Ling.

"Here, let's go somewhere private," he said in a low voice, smile disappearing once LanFan was out of the picture. I felt myself being pulled away against my will, and I followed. As we weaved through the crowd like a needle, I couldn't help but look over Ling. His features had gotten sharper in the last two years. He had graduated before me, so I didn't get to see him growing up. If I thought he towered over me before, I was _way_ off! He grew at least six inches and my head barely touched his bottom lip. He was also stronger. Before he had no chance of moving me, and now he was dragging me as if I were a bag of feathers. He also smelled like cigarettes (my dad's fault) and cologne. It smelled sharp and strong.

"Over there's a good spot!" he said, breaking me from my daydreams. He pulled me over behind a tree away from the crowd. I remembered Alphonse had busied himself with one of the game booths and we had just been split up. My phone vibrated and I reached to answer it, but Ling grabbed my hand with his. I felt my cheeks burn.

"W-What did you want to talk about, Ling?" I asked, unable to hide my worry from my voice. He ignored it.

"It's about this damn wedding!" he growled, releasing me. "I hate it!" I was taken off guard by his attitude. It scared me. "I can't get LanFan to talk to me without her being all formal and calling me 'your highness.' Just because I come from royalty..." He censored the rest of his rant.

"Uh, wait..." Ling looked over at me, dark eyes filled with curiosity and something else. "You mean... you're _not_ happy about marrying LanFan?" Ling gave me a dumbfounded look.

"Do I look happy about it?" he countered. "No, I barely know that girl at all. If I could just terminate the wedding and marry the person I _really_ care about, I would!" He sighed. "But my dad's forcing me to marry her to unite our families because we're close to bankrupt. It's for my family more than it is for me." He placed his hands on each side of my head and let his hang, chin touching his chest. He seemed exhausted.

"Now, don't get me wrong..." He looked up, locking eyes with me. "She's sweet and a good cook, but I just... I don't love her."

"I hear ya," I said. It came out meek. He smiled.

"And you're as dim as ever." Ling laughed dryly. "Still as dim as the first time we met."

" 'Dim?'"

At about this point, my mind exploded. Ling had leaned over and placed his lips securely over mine. I leaned all my weight against the tree to hold myself up. Kissing Ling was like being high. All I could think about was the fact that Ling - _Ling Yao_, for Christ's sake! - was kissing me. And then it clicked: Ling liked me. I was the one he cared about instead of LanFan. He wanted me, not her. But then I felt guilty as he managed to convince my brain to open my mouth and close my eyes. That poor girl had no idea what was happening.

Despite my want to keep kissing him, I jerked my head away, breaking our contact. He looked at me with a slight flash of betrayal. He reminded me of the look Envy gave me the night I bitch-slapped him. I had to fight the urge to smirk at the thought of me _bitch-slapping_ Envy.

"Wait," I said sternly. "Just... just wait." I held my hands out like a protective shield. "I... When I asked you out years ago, you said no. You told me you had a girlfriend."

"Because I did," he replied casually.

"So, now that she's your fiancée, it's okay to just make-out with me?"

"N-No, Ed, you see..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't really consider your offer back then because... because I didn't really feel that way. But whenever I was with LanFan and we were in any of those awkward silences with each other, I couldn't help but keep thinking about you. And the next thing I know..." He sighed. "I think I fell in love with you." He smiled. "I'm sure we could make this work somehow, what's between us, while I try and find a way to worm out of having to marry into LanFan's family. They could let May take the throne and let me stay here." I could have started crying. My eyes stung.

"How precious," a voice sneered. I jumped and turned. Ling yanked himself away from me, blushing furiously. "Professions of love have always bored me." The sting in my eyes disappeared and the heat rerouted to my cheeks. I could tell that I looked horrified by the expression on Envy's face. He looked like he was going to bend over and laugh until he cried. I wouldn't put it past him to do it later. "No, no, don't stop an account of me. Keep going; I want to see what happens next." He crossed his arms.

"...I have to go," Ling said, ignoring Envy and turning to me. "LanFan's probably gotten anxious. I'll see ya later, okay?" He bent down and quickly pecked my lips. "Call me." He turned away from Envy and left. I let out a harsh breath and glared over at Envy. He applauded.

"Good show, Ed, good show. You should definitely major in the performing arts; you have stage-crying down to an art!" He laughed. "That had to be the funniest thing I have ever seen."

" '_Funny_?'" I asked in shock. "How the hell was that _funny_?"

"Oh, didn't you hear him? 'Whenever I was with her, I couldn't help but think of you.' I felt like I was watching some bad soap opera where the only cute character..." He narrowed his eyes. "...is the one caught up in all the drama."

"Ha ha, not funny," I snapped, jerking myself around. I heard him jog up to me before I felt his fingers wrap around my arm.

"Hey, come on, it was just a joke."

"Shut up, asshole!" A jerked my arm away from him. It hurt. "Just leave me the hell alone!"

"What did I do?"

"What did you do? What did you _do_?" I huffed. "I'll tell you what you did!" I caught myself. Envy blinked in surprise. I let out a frustrated yell. "God! Just leave me the fuck alone!" I turned on my heel and stomped away. Envy must have been laughing his ass off. I turned. He was looking after me, fingers shoved into his pockets up to his knuckles, eyebrows raised as if he was expecting me to say something. I turned back around and walked away.

* * *

"I'm going to miss you, Ed!" Alphonse cried, throwing his arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "I hope the information helps you, brother," he whispered quickly. "G'night."

"Thanks," I said back as he pulled away. My dad held his arms out for a hug but I shook my head. He frowned. His girlfriend (couldn't bother to remember her name) linked her arm with his and glared at me. I hugged LanFan to be nice and Ling hugged me.

"Think about what I said," he hissed. "I'll wait for your answer." He pulled away and ruffled my hair affectionately, as if he were my big brother. _But it's just a show_, I thought sadly. _He's only doing that to hide his real feelings from her_.

I waved weakly as they piled in the car and left for my dorm. I opened the door and found a bawling, wet-faced Pride clinging to Envy's waist like it was a lifeline. The latter looked slightly annoyed and slightly moved.

"I don't wanna gooo!" he wailed. "I wanna stay here with Envy!"

"Pride, let go of your brother," Dante snapped. "He's too busy to have to baby-sit you."

"Envy..." Pride looked up at him with what were probably the saddest eyes the boy could muster. Envy sighed and pried his brother off him carefully.

"I'll see you during holidays," he started, and I could just imagine Pride in the beginning stages of a tantrum. "I have to focus on my studies. I can't be worrying about you during class. I'll see you soon, okay?" He hugged his brother, who started crying. With a sigh, Envy handed Pride off to Dante. She took him in his arms and said something smug to Envy in Russian. He spat back, and she looked over at Pride. Envy shot his eyes back down to his feet. Dante smirked. She noticed me standing at the doorway and smiled.

"It's nice to see you again, Edward," she said coolly, cradling the ball of tears in her arms. "I really wish it wasn't with my least-behaved child."

"He seems okay to me," I said back. She frowned and walked past me, making sure she didn't touch me on her way out. I looked over at Envy, who was playing with the laces on his shoes. I glared. "I hate you."

"Excuse me?" He lifted his head. "Me?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Envy, I'm talking to the lamp on the nightstand. _Yes_ I'm talking to you!" I shut the door a little harder than I meant to and fell onto my bed.

"Poor lamp." Envy turned around to it and laughed when I let out an exasperated sigh. "Calm down, Ed, I'm joking. I'm capable of doing that."

"Yes, well, apparently you're not capable of leaving your nose out of other people's business!" I bolted forward. "You couldn't have just left Ling and me alone?"

He narrowed his eyes. "No, I couldn't. I promise you, I tried. But I couldn't."

"Why not?" I demanded. He tugged at a lace before yanking his shoe off his foot. He was wearing black socks to match the rest of his morbid outfit. "Aren't you going to answer me?"

"...You know what? I don't care," he said with a sarcastic laugh. "Be with whoever you want. I could care less. Actually, I couldn't."

"What?" I was about to ask him what the hell flipped his lid, but he yanked his socks off and peeled away his sweater. He stood up and flipped the light off. I cried out in surprise. "Hey! Answer me! I asked you a question."

"Yes, you did." I could hear him get onto his mattress and move the covers around to get under them. "But I'm not going to answer you."

"Why not?" I could feel him staring at me. His eyes always made my blood run cold.

"Because I hate philanderers."


	10. Pros and Cons

"You are an ass," I said.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," Envy said with a tired yawn. He stretched himself, popping his back in the process. "Nice to see you're in a good mood." He threw his covers off and flashed black boxers my way.

"Do you only wear black?" I asked.

"Nope." He opened one of the drawers in the dresser and pulled out a pair of ripped jeans. "Sometimes I wear purple or green. Why do you ask?" He shot a smirk over to me and waggled an eyebrow before turning back and digging out a shirt. I pulled my legs out from underneath the covers and realized that I had slept through the entire night with my jeans on. Most likely, I would have lines running up and down my legs and fold marks crisscrossing the skin. That was going to look lovely.

"Jeez..." I rolled my eyes and stood up, taking off my sweatshirt and T-shirt. I could feel Envy's eyes on me, which made me squirm. I kept telling myself not to look at him and invoke anything else of that nature. He might actually go further than just kissing me, which, of course, scared the hell out of me. "You're so hard to deal with." I turned my bare back to him as I searched my side of the room for a clean shirt and pants. I was going to wait until after my shower to change those.

And then I felt hot breath on the back of my neck. A pale, slim-fingered hand placed itself firmly onto the dresser. I froze. My heart beat against my temples as if it was threatening to break through the thin layer of skin. A chuckle echoed in my ear. I felt my hands start shaking and clenched my fists.

"Just so we're clear on this," Envy started, "I don't like Ling. At all. In fact, I hate him enough to kill him. I would do it if I could. And if he gives me any reason to stick a knife in his throat, so be it, I'll run him through at the first chance I get." His hand gripped the dresser hard enough to turn his knuckles white. I felt a small shock of courage run through me.

"If you touch him, I'll kill _you_," I threatened. The laugh came again, and this time his mouth was by my ear. I could feel his breath as he talked.

"You couldn't do it. You don't have the gall." I could feel his bare chest on my back now. His heart was beating rapidly. "Just remember this, Ed: _I_ came out and said I liked you. It took Ling a few years to figure out his feelings. Which one of us seems to be telling to truth, and which one is a liar?" And with that, the hand disappeared, and Envy was back on his side of the room, pulling another black sweater over his head and fixing his hair. It had become frizzy when he pulled the sweater on. He looked at me through his mirror, locking eyes, before averting them immediately to his cell phone. I was surprised to see that he had one that wasn't black. It was a bright shade of red. I was also surprised to see that he owned one of those little figurines that were attached to the phone (couldn't remember what they were called if my life depended on it). It was one of those small voodoo-mummy dolls that were all the rage with girls from my high school. He had one that reminded me of a Jedi.

"Lust made that," Envy informed me. I cursed myself for getting caught staring again. "She's really good at making things; you should ask her for one."

"No thanks," I spat. Envy frowned.

"You're not much of a morning person, are you?" He turned back towards me. The sweater he was wearing was tight against his skin, pulling against every curve and dip of his chest. Even through the thick fabric, one would make out the outline of his abs. And of course, I was the one who noticed those details. Envy snapped his fingers. "My eyes are up here, genius. Your eyes are wandering." He grinned. I felt myself blush.

"So you _do_ like me," he said gleefully.

"I never said that!" I whipped around, digging for a shirt to cover myself with. I was sure he could see my pulse beating in my neck like a Mayan drum. "You need to get a grip on reality." I managed to find a red shirt with long white sleeves and pulled it over my head. I could still feel his eyes on me. It was so weird how I could just _feel_ his gaze like it was a physical thing touching me. How could his gaze be explained? The best way I could describe it was like being pinned by a large, hungry panther and having it rake its large claws against your back without ever breaking the skin but still tantalizing you with death.

"...What the hell is so great about Ling anyways?" he asked suddenly. I whipped around, knocking my knuckles hard against the wood of the dresser. I ignored the throbbing, red pain in my hand. Envy was leaning against his dresser, eyes narrowed and dark eyebrows pulled tightly together. He was frowning and looking hard at me.

"Excuse me?" I asked in surprise. Did he just sound...dare I say, jealous?

"What. The hell. Is so great about Ling?" he repeated slowly. "I don't see anything extraordinary about him; if you say he's some sort of prince, I'll kill you."

"Well, he kinda _is_ a prince." I ran my hands through my tangled hair. "But that's not it. I don't know, I just... I really like him." I snuck at glace at Envy. He was gripping the dresser tightly. I thought he was about to break it. "Why, are you _jealous_?" I couldn't stop my grin from showing. Envy glowered.

"Wouldn't you like to know." He turned as his cellphone vibrated. He snatched it up and answered in a low voice. I watched with a frown, eyes darting to the nightstand drawer where the information Alphonse had gotten for me was hidden. My family and friends were only able to stay one day, but a few other parents were still hanging around. I felt like asking Envy why Pride had to leave when he was probably capable of staying another day, but I didn't want to be killed. I left well enough alone. "Goddamn woman," Envy growled, closing his phone and shoving it into his pocket. Without another word towards me, he opened the door and slammed it shut hard enough to make me flinch.

That was the thing I hated about Envy. He always seemed mad at everything I did. Then again, I did seem to lead him on with my fucking denial. I _know_ I like him, but then I don't. Sometimes I hated him, but then I didn't. It was enough to give me a headache. This is why I had no social life in high school: love was too confusing.

Once I was positive Envy was gone, I ran over to the nightstand and nearly tore the drawer from its hinges. The folder was still there, and so were the papers. I sorted through them to put them back into chronological order before settling down on my bed and putting a small article in front of me. They were big enough to get their own page on Wikipedia. Holy shit.

_God's Forgotten_, it started, _was a cult group started by a young woman at XXX School who was kicked out of her home when her mother found out that her sexual partner was another woman. She struggled to work her way into college and started the cult when she met a few other students who were in the same position as she. The group worshiped no God; in fact, they seemed to be repulsed at the very mention of the word. On March 27, 1990 (four years after the group had been founded), they were linked to a multitude of murders and disappearances that had happened ritually around the school's campus. Supposedly, the victims (made of students and teachers) had picked on the students or made them feel victimized. The group decided to take drastic measures and wipe out the student body as well as over half the faculty on March 25, 1990. However, one of the members by the name of Russel Fletcher, felt afraid of the other members and informed one of the teachers, who then called the police and had the entire organization taken into custody two days later. The anti-religious group has since then been omitted, and there has been no news of them since._

The rest of the page was made up of other links that Alphonse had probably clicked on. It's been over ten years since the group had even been mentioned. I could bet that Envy was part of some sort of secret rejuvenation. But then I stopped. In my entire time being here, I had never seen anyone pick on Envy or even try to without having Greed jump into the conversation like it was a beer-fest. The last guy who made fun of my roommate (a freshman, I believe) had to have plastic surgery to fix the broken nose Envy gave to him and then for the rest of the face that Greed had a field day with.

The rest of the articles were just about different deaths and the students involved. The only real information I could get was from was that sliver of a Wikipedia article, which, to be honest, was missing a few key points that I was hoping to find. But it was a little helpful. What they did made a little sense to me now.

But why would Envy get himself involved with a cult repulsed by God? Oh, his sexuality. Thanks, Lust.

* * *

It's official: I am now a girl. No need for a penis while I'm staring intently at my phone wondering whether or not calling Ling the day after kissing him was too forward. Nope, there's _nothing_ girly about that.

But that was beside the point. The screen had turned itself off from me holding it open for too long and staring at it like it was a talking hamster. I began to wish for one of those Jedi-mummy dolls. I'm not quite sure why I wanted one, nor when I lost my manliness, but I really wanted one now.

I stared at my phone for a few more minutes and closed it, placing it on the nightstand and lying on my bed. My ponytail bunched up against the back of my head. I was bored. I started thinking about the pros and cons of dating Ling.

Pros: He was really cool, he liked the same things I liked, he actually _likes_ my singing (not that I sing often; when I do, he's the only person who doesn't pretend their ears are bleeding), and he happens to have the best sense of humor of anyone I have ever known. He laughed at all my jokes, even if no one else did.

Cons: He was already engaged to a beautiful girl who probably loves him to death, he took forever to tell me that he actually had feelings for me, I wasn't going to see him for a year because he was returning home for family business, and I was probably going to live with a huge amount of regret for ruining a marriage that his entire family would hate me for.

Yeah, uh, let's see those pros again.


	11. Comfort Zone

**Warning: mild fanservice. And on a side note, cold Chinese food is delicious.  
Dedicated to Chase, whom I won't see until Sunday. I miss and love you, dear brother. I also better see some of those brownies you're making, or I'm gonna be pissed.  
**

I had probably fallen asleep while thinking about the pros and cons of dating Ling because my body jolted upon hearing the sound of an explosion just behind the school. I soon realized that it was the sound of fireworks exploding outside. My room lit up bright with yellow and orange light before returning to the dim atmosphere that came with the table lamp. Envy was playing some sort of game on his cell phone and didn't seem to notice my waking up. I sat up on my elbows and looked at him. He was so engrossed that he didn't even hear me sigh.

And then my girlish mind began to compare Envy and Ling together. Liking two guys at the same time should only happen to girls in romance novels or shoujo manga. But no, it happens to happen to me in reality. Goddamn reality.

Ling was awesome, funny, dark-haired, really handsome, and he was an acrobat! He was always flipping around and showing off his flexibility during lunch. He nearly kicked me in the head doing a back flip before. He had skin with a slight tan, dark, silky hair, and was tall. (Okay, omit that last one; everyone's taller than me.)

Envy was dark, sexy, not very funny, also had dark hair, and he was strong. Really strong, and very confident. He acted as if a tornado couldn't take him down, and I doubted one would even be able to manage its own against him. He was taller than Ling by at least an inch (which, honestly, just made me feel worse about my Goddamn height).

They're surprisingly alike. But unlike Envy, Ling had the modern decency to not butt into other people's conversations or eavesdrop on them. He also was more polite.

"Oh, you're finally up," Envy mused, snapping me out of my thoughts. I flushed. He probably thought I was staring at him. Wonderful. "You snore like a bear." And the first thing he says happens to be an insult. I was past being surprised by anything he said.

"Shut up," I said back, stretching. My hair was messy and tangled. I grabbed a random brush and began to pull it through my hair.

"That's mine, you know."

I shrugged. "A brush is a brush."

"Fine, whatever." He turned away from me and looked back to his phone. I noticed that his Jedi was gone. I shrugged. He had probably dropped it somewhere. It didn't seem that important to him.

"..." I squirmed. His words from this morning continued to play in my head like a song put on repeat. I_ came out and said I liked you. It took Ling a few years to figure out his feelings._ That, I hated to admit, was true. And I was still intent on calling Ling.

"I hate fireworks," Envy muttered.

"You don't seem to like much of anything, do you?" I asked sarcastically. "Is there anything you like at all?"

"Edgar Allen Poe." He smirked. "Pure genius." I wasn't surprised at this either. But I had to agree; Poe was epic.

And then I squirmed again.

"Hey, um, Envy..." He looked up at me, brows raised. I felt myself blushing but swallowed my pride. "Think you can do me a favor?"

Envy leaned back against his hand, placing it on the mattress. He tilted his head, making his hair fall off his shoulders and hang just above his knuckles. He reminded me of a palm tree. I'll probably be killed for that remark later.

"That depends," he replied. "What kind of favor is it?"

"Could you, uh, could you kiss me again?"

If there was any way God could have given me a way to embarrass Envy with a simple question, lo and behold, he has given it to me. The shell-shocked look on Envy's face had to be the best thing I had seen all semester. His cheeks flamed up like two small furnaces, his eyes got as big as saucers, and his phone slipped right out of his hands. I would have laughed at him had I not been asking him for a serious matter.

"Wh-what?" he asked. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right."

"Oh, okay." I felt a stronger surge of courage and let out a deep breath. Repeating it was easier. "Could you kiss me again?"

I think I could see Envy jumping up and down like a schoolgirl in his head. He had to have been the happiest guy on the planet right now. But as usual, the bastard was acting as cautious as a sumo wrestler in a minefield. Doing this would be so much easier if he would stop acting like everyone in the world is out to kill him.

"Is this a trick?" he asked. "Last time I kissed you, you nearly killed me." The operative word being "nearly."

"Well, yeah, but that was because you tongue-raped me." Me. And my. Stupid. Mouth.

"You didn't seem to have too much of a problem with that," he challenged.

"Oh, would you just shut up and kiss me?" I had to hold myself back from nearly bursting into laughter at how totally wrong that sentence sounded. It didn't hit me until Envy cracked a smile.

"Well, when you put it that bluntly, how in the world can I resist?" Forgetting about his phone, Envy swung his legs off the bed and stood up, looking at me questioningly. "You sure? You realize that I'm taking you seriously."

"About time you did." I placed my hands on my hips.

Envy gave me a look before standing up and closing the distance between us in three quick strides. He was in front of me now, looking down into my eyes, past me even, and making me freeze. I was now caught in the trap, and the hunter wasn't about to let me go too easily. Envy lifted his hands and cupped my face gently, staring at me for a few moments longer, before bending down and capturing my lips in a slow, hesitant kiss.

Remember when I said that kissing Ling was like being high? I was so WRONG. The very second Envy's mouth pressed against mine my legs turned into gummy worms. I grabbed the sleeves of his shirt to keep from falling to the floor like a pansy. He apparently took that as a sign that he was doing a good thing and turned his head to the side, deepening our contact. Right about then, the ability to put out anything intelligent immediately dissipated. The only things I could focus on were keeping myself from looking like a fool and falling flat on my face because my legs had become too weak to hold me up, the pull in my chest that almost cut my breathing off completely, and Envy. I seriously felt as if I was about to faint in that instant.

And then the bastard pulled away, prying my hands off his shirt.

"Happy now?" he asked with a smirk. I was too dumbfounded to form words so I just nodded. He laughed. I wanted him to kiss me again (and I mean I _really_ wanted him to do it again), but he returned to whatever it was he was doing on his phone.

And then I realized something: I completely forgot about Ling.

* * *

I know this is probably the most random thing I have ever asked in my entire life, but has anyone ever swallowed his or her heart? That has to be the hardest thing in the world to do, especially when you're in love with someone who has the potential to kill you and someone whom you thought you were in love with and it turned that you were just extremely desperate. I have the worst luck and happen to be stuck in said predicament. Man, I hate life.

But I still swallowed mine and hit the "call" button. My stomach flipped around in my gut as I waited for the the person I called to answer. Unfortunately, the person answered halfway through the second ring.

"Edward!" I heard Ling exclaim happily. "I'm glad to hear from you. I thought you weren't going to call me."

"Uh, well, things have been...busy." It technically wasn't a lie. Now that it was Sunday and parents were leaving (Halloween was tomorrow), the carnival was being taken down, and I wasn't in much of a mood to face Envy after yesterday, so I offered to help the men pack up, got sweaty, took a shower, and it was now three in the afternoon and I had just plucked up the courage to call Ling. "Listen, I've been thinking about your offer the other day." I was not excited about doing this.

"Oh, you have?" I could hear the excitement in his voice. "Well? What's your answer?"

Here it goes. I can do it. Just one, word: no. That was all I had to say.

"Um, Ling, I'm sorry," I said, and I could mentally picture the excited expression on his face just melt away at this point. Starting off with the phrase "I'm sorry" never means anything good for the person receiving the apology. "But, I don't like you the way you like me. I'm sorry."

There was silence on the other end. I was worried he had hung up on me, but the dial tone never came.

"...I see," he said finally. The disappointment was obvious in his voice. "Well, sorry I kissed you. That was probably rude of me. I didn't mean to bother you."

"Ling..."

"I was stupid. I thought you might still have feelings for me, but that was just a joke. We haven't seen each other for a few years; it's not weird for you to find someone else."

"Ling, stop."

"No, let me finish," he said sharply. I physically flinched from my phone. He must have been severely hurt. "I hope that person is worth it. He must be one hell of a person if you're willing to give him the light of day." I seriously felt like crying right now. My eyes stung, a lump grew in the back of my throat, and I bit my lip from letting out a chest-hurting sob. I couldn't give a shit to my manliness right now. When I was hurt, I was hurt, and there was no denying it. "Well, thanks for the good times, Ed. See you in the future."

_Click_

The dial tone was harsh in my ear. I let my hand drop onto my mattress, starting at my knees as tears broke free from my eyelashes and rolled down my cheeks. My phone was still yelling its dial tone. I wanted to throw it at the wall. I wanted to scream. I wanted to bash my head through a wall in hopes that some insane act in a dream will make me kick myself awake, and I'd find myself in bed with some random, sexy guy. Reality is a bitch. Guilt trips always make me feel like the worst guy in the world, no matter who they were from. People I cared about always made me feel like I was stabbing myself in the eye.

The door opened, and I scrambled to wipe my eyes dry and turn away before Envy or Greed saw me crying like a little kid. But no, my eyes refused to stop. Envy walked in and saw me, and I could have sworn he looked angry for a second.

"What happened?" he asked immediately. I hung my head and hastily dried my eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked through a thick voice. Shit. "I'm fine."

"You're crying, Ed. I don't consider that fine."

"Well, I do." I stood up. I wanted a nice, hot shower to wash away the guilt. "I'm going to take a shower." I made it about halfway past Envy before he turned around and grabbed my arm so quickly I thought he was going to rip it out of the socket. But he was Mr. Perfect and didn't hurt me, not even when he pushed me against a wall. He seemed to like pushing me into things, I noticed.

"Who made you cry?" he demanded.

"What do you care?" I asked, feeling that lump return.

"What do I care? How many times do I have to drill it into your _fucking_ head? You have to be the stupidest person on this planet." And that insult didn't help me feel any better. He's such a pep-talker. He saw more tears fall from my eyes and softened his expression. The next thing I knew, his hand was on the back of my head and I was looking over his shoulder at our drab dorm room. It took a few moments for my mind to register that he was trying to comfort me. I laughed.

"You're horrible at this," I said, throwing my arms around his shoulders.

"Shut up," he said glumly. His head touched my shoulder, and he started shaking and sniffling like a little kid.

_Click_

He wasn't the one comforting me. I was the one comforting him.


	12. Secrets Are Ugly

**Gah, I don't like this chapter. This is what happens when I'm writing late at night with serious writer's block. But there're only a few more chapters until it's over. Then I'll start with yet another Edvy story. **

Armstrong was, indeed, the most eccentric teacher I have ever had, but his class was the most boring class in the world. I was holding my head up and trying not to fall asleep. If you fell asleep in his class, he made you get up and teaches you "the educational learning technique passed down the Armstrong family for generations!" ... Or something like that. I could hardly remember the name of his stupid technique when I was trying to ignore the jeers from the other students sitting around me. I was in honors courses, meaning I was taking junior classes in my freshman year, and I was the shortest and youngest person in all of my classes. That made me a perfect target for upperclassmen to pick on. Some people just never grow up.

I looked over at Lust, who seemed mildly distracted today. She was the most down-to-earth person I knew in this place, and her mind was floating around someplace else. She was tapping her eraser against her lip, staring at the board with zero interest. I turned back to the lesson and scribbled down a few notes.

Anyone need some catching up to do? Well, as far as I know, Lust is Greed's fiancée and Envy is entirely in the dark. (He hasn't mentioned it, so that's what I'm assuming.) Envy recently had a mental/emotional break down and we've stopped speaking. Entirely. He hasn't said a single word to me in the last two days. I felt a little hurt from what he was doing. Lust had no idea, either. Envy wouldn't tell her anything, and if he tried to say anything, Greed would elbow him and they both would shut up.

And now, Lust has stopped sitting with those two. She'd come by my table and sit down and eat with me. I found out that her English was not as perfect as I thought it was. (She said "chunk it!" instead of "chug it!" and seemed embarrassed when I corrected her.)

"I hate it when guys have their own thing going on," she said, taking a quick drink of water. "It's annoying when they both have some sort of inside joke and leave me out of it. They don't speak in English or Russian, or even at all, and it's annoying the hell out of me!" She crushed her water bottle. I just grinned out of sentiment.

"He's stopped talking to me, by the way," I said. Lust looked curious.

"Envy?"

"Yep."

"I'll kill him." She stood, but I grabbed her hand quickly.

"Wait! Don't do it!" I couldn't hide the slight alarm in my voice. Lust looked at me strangely. "Er... I mean, come on, guys are guys. You can't help that they have their own thing going on and you're left in the dark." Lust narrowed her eyes at me and snatched her hand out of my grip.

"You're hiding something," she calculated. I took in a harsh breath. "You're just like them! I hate men." Lust picked up her empty tray and stormed off. I sighed and let my head hit the table. Lying was my forte. I had turned it into an art! Maybe all those years of being a good little boy and staying in my room studying instead of partying had rusted my abilities. I'd have to work on them later.

"Geez, someone's way too angry at guys," I mused, standing up. I threw my trash away and picked up my books and headed back to my dorm room. I wasn't surprised to find that the room was empty. Envy's bed was made, for once. His phone was lying on the dresser looking lonely from the lack of Jedi hanging off the antennae. I sat down on my bed and sorted through my hellish study guides. Now that Halloween was over and teachers stopped playing pranks on their students (let me tell you, Roy has to be the evilest man on earth; sticking a real skeleton hand into my desk and scaring the hell out of me is _not_ funny!), we were condemned to work on study guides for the midterms coming up in December. Roy's was going to be as hard as nails now that Envy stopped helping me. Armstrong's was going to put me to sleep. All the others were so easy that I could do them in my sleep.

I decided to get Roy's finished today and then ask him for any help before or after class tomorrow. I pulled his study guide out and took one look before deciding that using the book as a reference for the work would probably be the best thing to do. But Lady Luck is a true bitch. My book wasn't with me.

"Goddamit," I growled. "I didn't leave it in the lunchroom. I know that."

All right, Edward, retrace your steps. The best place to look would be Roy's room, then Armstrong's, and then Havoc's class. (Which I would regret later, considering that bastard smokes as if the habit's going out of style.) I'm pretty sure it was in Roy's room, but that's just wishing.

I stood from my bed and opened my door. The hallways were nearly packed with people making up for their drinking withdrawals from the weekend. I didn't find Greed among them, which was a surprise to me, but I stepped over bodies and a few people twitched when I walked in front of them. I should probably call for a few ambulances. ... Maybe later.

I cold gust of wind blasted me when I stepped outside and pushed my shirt up my back a little bit. I shivered at the numbness that ran over my stomach and pulled my shirt back down. It was going to rain. It was dark, cold, and a nearly-black cloud was hanging over the school. I grimaced and sprinted for the main building of the school. The rain decided to skip the sprinkling bit and move on to downright pouring. My shirt was halfway soaked by the time I entered the building. I shivered at the air conditioning blasting down on me and made a mental note to turn the heater on in the dorm room.

I shook involuntarily as I walked down the hall to his room. The light was on, which wasn't normal for this time of the day, since he was at lunch with the other teachers. He always turned his lights off when he wasn't in his room. And the last time I saw him, he was at lunch. I could hear voices, multiple ones, coming from the crack in the door. I slowly crept up to it and peeked inside. My first thought was that it was just a bunch of lazy-asses who had snuck into his room to get the answers for the midterms so they could pass. At least, until I heard a mature, accented voice snarling.

"I saw him walking down the hallway, yesterday, Envy. He _waved_ at me." Envy? I felt myself freeze. Surely, that black hair hung down from the headband around his head and I recognized the usual black sweater on him. His wardrobe seemed extremely limited. Damn it, Edward, not now!

"Sorry," Envy mumbled, letting his head fall lazily to the side. "I just... I can't."

"You can't what? Kill him?" Dante stepped forward, her dark hair pulled behind her head into a bun. Her cold eyes were burning with impatience. She stood in front of Envy, hands on her hips, glaring at him. Sitting on a desk on her other side, Greed was fidgeting, looking between Dante and Envy worriedly. Envy looked quickly to his feet. Dante used her finger to make him look at her.

"I asked you a question, Envy. You said you can't kill him, correct?" Envy slowly nodded. His hands were shaking. Dante scoffed and took a step backward. Before I could blink, she raised her arm and backhanded Envy harshly across the face, nearly knocking him off his feet. He grabbed at the desk frantically, trying to keep his balance as Dante turned away. Greed jumped off the desk and rushed over his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder as if that was a way to help him. "Pathetic. You didn't have a problem killing Hughes."

"I didn't have a 'problem' killing him because _you_ were there pulling the trigger _for_ me!" Envy spat. Dante turned back to him, smiling.

"Yes, but which of us was holding the gun?" She smirked as Envy's glare probably faded away. "I want that roommate of yours dead. He could find out more than he needs to and jeopardize what I'm trying to do." "Roommate of yours" meant me. I shivered at the thought of Envy having so many advantages over me. Him murdering me was too much of a possibility. I didn't doubt that.

"Killing people?" Greed asked darkly. "That's all you want to do."

"...True." Dante shrugged. "But if something were to happen, and the police were to get involved, which one of us three is going to jail? I'll give you a hint: it _isn't_ me."

"You're sick!" Greed bellowed. "You'd kill your kids for the thrill of murder?"

"Of course. More of a thrill, killing someone you're supposed to care about. And don't forget, Selim is with Rose right now. If I called her, she'd bring him here, and I'd make you both watch as I drove a bullet into every joint in his body before I'd finally kill him," she crooned. Envy and Greed's breaths hitched sharply. "Or, maybe I'd make you kill him. It'd teach you to grow the hell up." She slammed a fist onto the desk of Mustang's desk. Envy and Greed jumped. She brushed her skirt as if there was dirt on it and regained her composure.

"I want that brat dead by the end of the month, Envy, or I'll make _you_ kill Selim. Am I clear?" She smirked, and I guessed that Envy had a look of absolute horror on his face. When she turned back to the wall behind her, Envy made a move to lunge at her, but Greed grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back, shaking his head . Dante made a noise that showed her impatience. "Am I clear, Envy?"

"_Crystal._"

* * *

By this time, I had two choices: 1) just let Envy do away with me like Dante wanted him to, or 2) get my ass some help. I still had Riza's number, but she had stopped hanging around the campus after a month of no evidence. That left me practically on my own now. I bet it was better when you had someone to get your back when you weren't looking out for it. I stared at the study guide in front of me and tried not to think about how much danger my life was currently in. There are many things I am good at; self-convincing is not one of them.

And then my roommate walked in, and all hell broke loose in my mind. Mentally, I was going on a tangent about how stupid he was and how he could let someone like Dante get away with something like what she was doing for so long, but I didn't. I just looked up at him casually, or with what I thought was a casual look that probably hinted to him that I knew something. He stopped and narrowed his eyes at me. Unfortunately for him, that look was a façade that I was now aware of. I didn't feel as creeped out by them as I did at the beginning of the year. The room was quite warm now.

"What?" he demanded. His hands were shaking. I couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. He was just a big brother looking out for his little brother. I couldn't blame him. "Wipe that drool off your lip."

"I'm not drooling," I said sharply but still felt up at my mouth to make sure I hadn't really started drooling. Envy fell back against his bed and let out a big sigh. I felt like patting him on the head. "...Your mom...," I started, and his head turned to me so sharply I thought I heard it snap.

"What about her?" he asked. He sounded panicked.

"Nothing." I turned back to my shoes and played with the laces. I could feel his eyes boring into me as I dd my best to avoid looking at him. I snuck a glace form the corner of my eye. As I suspected, he was looking at me, trying to read my face. "What?" I looked up. Envy turned away from me, staring at his own shoes.

"...You don't trust me, do you?" he asked suddenly. I heard my own neck snap when I turned my head to look at him. The look on my face probably told him everything. "I thought so."

"You don't give me any real reason to trust you," I said. "You're just..." I paused, searching for the right word to use. He waited for me. "Confusing! Bipolar! You're happy one second and then threatening me the next and then kissing me another time! I can't decide whether to want to kill you or..." I clenched my fists and growled in frustration. Envy cocked his head.

"Kiss me?" he guessed.

"No! Well, er...yeah, no. _No_!" I blushed as I tried to lie to him and listened to myself failing miserably.

"You so like me." Envy grinned and laughed, and I was relieved to see him lose that frightened look on his face. "You won't admit it."

"..."

I had to agree with him. I honestly didn't think I could admit it.

I hastily grabbed my sweatshirt and pulled it over my head. Envy watched me with a curious look. I fixed my hair by pulling the ponytail tighter. In all honesty, I wasn't feeling up to doing much today, especially after what I just heard, and the rest of the classes wouldn't be hard to make-up. I'd just sleep for the rest of my life. That really didn't sound too bad right now.

"Where are you going shorty?" Envy asked.

"I'm not short!" I flailed my fists and Envy laughed again.

"That always cracks me up."

You know what? Never mind. I don't like him. At all. Not one bit.

I'm still rusty at lying.


	13. Motivation

**Warnings: long chapter, lots of italics, and point-of-view switch! I think your opinion of Dante might change or get stronger, depending on what you think of her so far. Only a few more chapters left!  
**

_I was probably going to be killed at any second, which didn't help me get much sleep. And Envy's avoiding me even more now. I rarely saw him, and when I did, it was mostly when he was unconscious on his bed, sprawled out as if he didn't really care about his sleeping posture. I felt strong urges to push him off the bed and demand why he's been acting so strange lately, but I knew perfectly well why he was acting like an ass. It was because he was supposed to kill me. And I prayed that what I heard was probably just a joke or something for a punk show. But so far, whenever I saw Dante, she'd gave me some sort of evil/pissed-off glare and walk by without saying anything._

_And once again, I woke up with Envy fast asleep on his bed, back turned towards me. I frowned. This was making me extremely mad. I was tired of him keeping secrets from me. Roy was still messed up from Hughes's death and was looking insanely for the person who did it. I wish I could have told him it was Envy, but my roommate could kill me any second (no matter how many times he says he can't). I hated to be afraid of anything, nonetheless someone who looked like a stripper. God, I couldn't really get over that._

_"Mmm." Envy shifted under his blankets. He turned over and sat up, rubbing his eyes. I crossed my legs on my bed and waited for him to look at me. When he did, he quickly averted his gaze to his feet. I glared at him and threw a sock. It hit his arm. He looked at me incredulously. "What are you doing throwing a sock at me?"_

_"I ought to throw my math book at you, but I won't," I spat. I stood up and grabbed my shoes, shoving my feet down into them. Why the hell was I acting like a spoiled brat when Envy was actually awake and willing to talk to me for once? I don't know why I was talking the way I was when I really wanted to throw my arms around him, but I was really mad at him for ignoring me right after using me as an emotional crutch. Not to mention I was afraid he was going to stick a knife in my back if I hugged him. _

_Envy seemed to sense that I was angry with him.  
_

_"What was it you were going to say about Dante last night?" he asked darkly. I looked up at him. He was hard to take seriously, half-lidded eyes still burdened with fatigue. It was quite obvious he was fighting a yawn. "You stopped before you were going to say anything." He rubbed his eyes with the inside of his wrist. He looked so much like Alphonse did when he was little that I wanted to hug him. But once again, I might end up with a knife in my back. My love life sucks ass._

_"No I wasn't," I said, quickly turning away. I searched my pockets for my key and found it was missing. Envy whistled and I turned around. He was swirling my key around on his finger with a devilish smirk. He was suddenly fully awake now. I growled. He didn't seem intimidated by me. He stood up and jangled the key in front of me._

_"Come and get it," he said tauntingly. I walked towards him, and as soon as my foot hit the ground in front of me, I jerked back. He noticed and cocked his brow towards me. "What? Afraid you can't reach this high?" He shook them again, as if I were some dog he was toying with. I couldn't help but glare. That damn key was the only way I was going to get back into the room after classes. I charged forward to get it, reaching out to wrap my fingers around it..._

_And then an arm wrapped tightly around my waist, pulling me against Envy as he crashed his mouth against mine hungrily. I couldn't help but utter a small gasp as his mouth coaxes me to relax against him, and unwillingly, I do. My hands grip at his shirt tightly as I press against him and kiss back. How I longed for that kiss again. I couldn't help but think about it during classes. I knew why I was so angry that he had stopped talking to me, now: I really liked him. Really, really liked him. And that was bad on my part, considering his mother was out of her fucking mind._

_A metallic tang came to my mouth when he pulled away, smirking. A hot, thin line of blood trailed from the side of my mouth. I looked down. A sharp dagger blade had punctured my stomach. Hot blood poured from the wound, down my stomach and legs. Envy grinned, and his face became distorted, like something out of a horror movie. He leaned beside my ear and laughed. "Edward," he said darkly. "Edward... Edward..."_

"Damn it, Edward, wake up!"I bolted forward, my head cracking harshly against something hard. I cried out from surprise and pain and gripped at it as the pain soared around my skull and stopped just behind my eyes. It throbbed. I heard something heavy fall to the floor and looked up. Envy was sitting flat on his butt, gripping his red forehead and growling every profanity he knew. He looked up at me and glared. "What the hell is wrong with you? You didn't have to freakin' buck me in the head!" He stopped. I felt at my face and neck, looking down at my hand. It was wet with sweat.

"Sorry," I grumbled through the pain and adrenaline. That nightmare had seemed so real. It was weird. I could have sworn that I had been stabbed in the gut. My stomach hurt now, but it was more like nausea than a stab wound.

"You had a nightmare," Envy said knowingly. I looked up at him. I blushed. "I could tell. You were moaning in your sleep. And you were saying my name." He gave me a worried look. I ducked my head and looked intently at my sweat-soaked fingers. I could feel the beads of sweat sliding down my neck and shivered at the tickling. "Ed, is something wrong?"

_Yes,_ I thought, _everything is wrong. I'm head-over-heels for you, you're a murderer, your mom's insane, and I have absolutely no idea what to do. _

"No, nothing's wrong," I replied quickly, making him give me a look that told me he knew I was lying. He stood up and kneeled on the bed beside me. I leaned away from him. "What are you doing? You're getting too close."

"..." Envy narrowed his eyes, ignoring my protest. I glared at him. "..."

"Say something if you're going to get that close to me!" I pushed him back by his shoulders. He growled at the widened space between us. He pulled back, making my arms fall limp on my sides. He pulled his legs in front of him and crossed them, showing that he wasn't moving. "What do you want?"

"To talk to you." His tone, normally so relaxed and airy, but now it was cold and serious. He reminded me of my dad getting onto Alphonse about his language grade.

"About what?" I asked, curling my legs in front of me. I decided that if he attempted to make a lunge for me, I'd kick him square in the chest. With my strength, I should be able to at least knock the breath out of him.

"Us."

"We're not a couple," I said quickly. He cocked his brow and I cleared my throat.

"I know that," he started, "but I want to be. And as much as I want to, it can't happen. Not without putting you in danger."

"I know that."

Envy gave me a look. SHIT. Why did I have to be cursed to live without a filter between my mouth and my brain? It must come from my dad's side of the family. That must be it. But he still continued, "You said you wanted a reason to trust me, didn't you?"

"Not in those exact words," I started. Envy gave me a look. "But, yeah, I would like a reason to trust you. I really like you." That little filter, remember the little filter? Yeah,_ I don't have one_! The next time I go to the doctor, I'll ask him to install one. But my words seemed to make Envy smile. I decided that was at least a good thing.

"You were asking about Dante last night, or at least starting to." He sighed, shoulders falling visibly. "This could get me killed, but I'm going to tell you something no one outside my family knows about her. Not even Lust knows about it. But you can't tell _anyone_ else what I'm about to tell you." He gave me a harsh look as I nodded. Once again, he sighed.

* * *

_It was a little over eight years ago, when Pride was barely a year old. I was almost eleven, Greed was just turning twelve, and Gluttony had just started high school. He was sixteen. Back in Russia, our mom, Dante, was married to an aristocrat with lots of money and power. But being married to him was not enough for her. She was insatiable. She wanted sex, money, anything she could get her hands on, and then wanted more of it. She had a few flings with lots of different men, one of whom impregnated her. Pride is the son of one of those aristocrats, I can't remember which one. But I'm rambling.  
_

_Our dad found out about Pride's father almost a year after he was born. He confronted Dante about it and they had an argument. Greed and I were sent to our rooms so they could "talk in private." Pride started crying and Greed and I went to see what was wrong. He was trying to open his bedroom door and run downstairs. I picked him up and Greed suggested we go downstairs to make sure everything was okay. It had been quiet for awhile. I agreed._

_We walked around for a few minutes, trying to find our parents or at least use their usual screaming arguments to track them down. The two had never seemed to get along for as long as any of us could remember, so why they got married in the first place was an entire mystery to us. But the house was unusually quiet. Greed and I got worried and ran for the library, where most of their fights took place._

_We found our parents in there, but not in the way we had wanted to find them. Our mom was sitting down in a chair, hands covering her face. Her shoulders were shaking and her dress and cheeks were covered in blood. Our dad fell to the floor at her feet, eyes wide in shock with a knife protruding from his chest. The only part of it that was visible was the handle. The entire blade was sunken into his chest cavity. He looked towards us, blood streaming out of his mouth, and reached out to us. Then, he groaned and gurgled, and fell limp. Greed and I both were disgusted and petrified with fear. Dante looked up at us when we came in. We thought she had been crying, but she was laughing._

_"What a thrill," she said. She cackled as we stared at our dead father. "That was so much fun! I want to do it again." She looked at us with this outright insane expression on her face. I tightened my grip on Pride and Greed stepped in front of me. Dante then glared down at us. "You saw," she said. "You saw me kill him." _

_Greed just stared her down, making sure to hide Pride and me from her view. It didn't work. She had seen us when we walked in. _

_"I'll kill that bastard child, too," she threatened, yanking the knife out of our dad's chest. I didn't see her, but I could hear it as it slid from his body. "He should die. He shouldn't be alive." Greed backed up, pushing me into the hallway. Pride started screaming at this point. He was inconsolable. Greed told her he wouldn't let her touch us. He'd kill her before she could get her hands on him. She laughed again._

_"I doubt you have the strength to stop me." She threw him sideways and grabbed Pride from me, holding him screaming against her with the knife pointing to his neck. "You'll do as I say, and you will act as I tell you, or I'll kill him." And then she tossed him back at me. I caught him quickly, and Greed ran over, putting his hands on my shoulders to make sure I was okay. Dante sent us back to our rooms with the threat of killing our little brother. We brought him to our room and consoled him until he fell asleep. My hands were shaking so badly that even sitting on them didn't help me._

_Greed made me promise not to turn out like her. I promised him, and we ended up crying.

* * *

_"...She's practically famous," Envy continued. I was silent, unsure of what to make of the story I was listening to. "Books, mystery documentaries, and things like that have been made about her. Hughes found out somehow and confronted her about it. Unfortunately for me, I was with her when he told her, and she gave me a gun and told me to kill him. I couldn't do it. I spoke harshly to make her think I could, but I couldn't. She grabbed the gun from over my hand and pulled the trigger for me." He buried his face in his hands. "I promise you, Ed, I _didn't kill Hughes._ _Not_ on purpose, not by myself."

"..." I really felt like patting him on the head. "So, you're _not_ going to stab me in the back if I hug you?"

"No." He looked up and gave me a sour look.

"Good." I leaned forward and flung my arms around him. He tensed up for a second, then slowly relaxed. A few more moments later, he allowed himself to hug me back. Then it hit me. "Envy?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you tell me if it puts Pride in danger? Wouldn't you be a little more reluctant to tell me about it?" Envy's laugh vibrated in my ear.

"Yeah, but this has been on my shoulders for almost nine years. You have _no idea_ how stress-relieving that was." I sat back on my bed, feet still tangled in the covers. Envy laughed and let his head hang. He jerked it back up. "Don't say a _word_ to Dante. She'll freak out and might lose whatever shred of sanity is left in her head. God forbid, she finds out..." He stopped talking and bit his thumb. I jerked it away from him.

"You seriously need to stop doing that," I scolded. "It can't be healthy."

"So what?" He gave me a look for my nagging and laughed. "Man, you're just like Lust. She hates it when I do that."

"I do too. You look like you've been beaten with a ruler." I turned his hand over in mine. There were scabs alongside his nails. "That looks painful."

"It is, a little bit."

We fell into an awkward silence. I knew the big secret now, the "motive" behind Envy's so-called killing spree. But he hadn't been the one who killed that first person. (Tristan, I think. I couldn't remember his name.) And he said Dante had been the one who pulled the trigger for him. I dropped his hand like it was a bomb. He looked up at me.

"I have to do something; I'll be back." I pulled my feet from my covers and left the dorm, walking down the hallway and looking frantically for a phone. Once I found a payphone, I dug into the deepest pits of my mind to find the number. Once I found it, I stuck two quarters in the phone and placed the phone against my ear. The person on the other end answered halfway through the second ring.

"Hello, Amestris Police Department."

"Hi, um, is Ms. Hawkeye there?" I twisted the phone cord between my fingers nervously.

"Yes, she is."

"Could I please speak to her? Tell her it's a student from the university. She'll know it's me."


	14. Intel

I kicked my foot in the air to the beat of the music in my headphones, chewing on the eraser of my pencil. It left a horrible taste in my mouth, but I didn't pay it much mind. I shot a quick glance over at Envy, who hadn't really talked to me much since his little "confession." He was tuning the entire world out by reading a book. I couldn't exactly read the title, but I could tell it was set in Roman times. At least, I think it was... I couldn't specify anything.

I returned to staring at the ceiling of the dorm room. Riza and I were to meet up in about an hour, but she told me to be late because of something she had to get together with one of her subordinates, and she was going to bring an extra person along. I was a little unsure of what exactly she had planned for this, but it must have been something big if she was actually going to involve me in it. And that's not self-flattery. I'll admit, whatever she had planned had me on edge and a little scared.

I pulled the bitter eraser from my mouth, taking off my headphones, and let out a big sigh. Envy noticed and looked over at me, head tilting to the side a bit. "Homework?" he asked, eyeing the pencil. I looked at it before throwing it off the bed and shaking my head. Envy frowned and dog-eared the page of the book in his hands. I felt my teeth grind together.

"So, what are you going to do about Dante?" I asked. Envy flinched and tensed at his mother's name but relaxed when he quickly realized that she wasn't around. He leaned against the wall and bit on his lip. He fingered his hand. I was making sure he stopped his bad habit of chewing his fingers until they bled. The bruises weren't very large, and some of them had already healed, but sometimes he would begin to bite them and I'd get onto him about it. He got mad every time I bitched at him but he stopped.

"I have absolutely no idea," he answered after a small silence. "If I don't do anything, she's going to kill you. And if I _do_ try and do anything against her, she's going to kill my little brother. I get headaches just trying to think of any loopholes!" He let out a growl and fell sideways onto his bed. Half his face was sunken into his pillow. He looked at me with a slight pout. "My life seriously sucks right now. It's... how do I say it..." He said something in Russian and let out yet another sigh.

"It's pretty bad, huh?" I tried smiling at him. He gave me a half-smile and let it disappear. "I want to help. I'm partly involved in this now."

At that, Envy bolted upwards, glaring hard at me. "You go anywhere near my mother, and I will kill you." I must have blanched at what he said because he hesitated and frowned. "I'm only joking, Ed. But seriously, I _will_ be pissed off if you get anywhere near that psychotic bitch." He turned over so that he was facing the ceiling and put his arms underneath his head. "I wonder how Pride is doing..." He started chewing on his finger, felt my harsh gaze, and quickly put it back under his hair.

"Give him a call if you're that worried," I suggested. "I'm sure you'd be calmer if you heard from him that he was okay." Envy growled.

"That's the thing: Dante is keeping tabs on who calls the house while she's gone. If I call, Rose is going to spill the beans. She's sweet, I will admit that, but she's as loyal as a dog to Dante. She won't know she's doing harm." He bit his nail before ripping it from his mouth again. "Dammit."

I shot a quick glance to the clock on the nightstand. I had to leave in twenty minutes.

"Did you tell Greed I know?" I asked sheepishly. Envy looked over at me. He seemed to hesitate.

"...I wasn't sure if I could trust him," he said meekly. "I mean, he's my brother, and he hates Dante as much as I do, but I wasn't sure if he would take a liking to my... confession. He might panic and tell her." Envy turned over onto his side. He was the type who couldn't sit still for long when he was nervous. I noticed I was raking my thumb over my knuckles and clenched my hands into fists to stop.

"You should probably tell him. He might get mad if I slip up and say something that blows my cover and he had no idea I knew." I wrapped my headphones around the CD player in my lap and placed it on my desk. As I did, I snuck a glance at the clock. Time for me to leave. I stood up abruptly. "I have somewhere to be. I'll see you later. Try getting some sleep," I added. "You look like a sleep-deprived corpse."

"You say that as if it makes any sense." He smirked as I threw my pillow at him and snatched up my cell phone. "See you later. And be careful."

"I will." I closed the door to the dorm room and walked down the hall to the elevator. I felt as if someone was walking behind me, but every time I turned around, the hallway was empty. There was no place for anyone to hide or a hallway to jump into. I decided I was paranoid and turned around, slamming right into something hard. I growled as I rubbed my chin and looked up. Greed looked down as me solemnly. I felt my stomach fold into itself as if it was hiding from him.

"'Sup, squirt?" he said casually. "Is my brother in your room?" He didn't take his eyes off me. I backed away a step. "I need to talk to him about something important."

"He's sleeping," I said quickly. "He looked tired so I suggested he slept." Greed cocked a brow towards me. He shrugged and ruffled my hair.

"See ya around." He gave me a wave. "Oh, and be careful of Dante. She's been in a piss-assed mood and she gets violent when she's angry. Okay? Bye." He quickly turned and marched away from me and down the hall. I watched him with a blank mind, unsure of why he said what he said. I blinked, remembered that I had something I needed to get to, and moved to the elevator. My stomach was doing flip-flops. I felt like I was going to be sick. I guess that was just a side-effect of knowing something important but not being able to tell anyone. I had sworn to keep Envy's secret.

* * *

I walked into the small café with my hands shoved deeply into my pockets, looking around for the blonde woman I had met only five months ago. She was sitting in the back and talking with a man whose back was towards me. She stopped mid-sentence and looked up towards me, smiling and waving me over. I smiled in return and walked briskly towards her, freezing when the man sitting with her turned around. Those ebony eyes... Roy seemed to be as surprised as I was. His eyebrows were hiked up and his eyes were slightly widened.

"Well, when Ms. Hawkeye said she had personal intel on this case, I didn't think it was someone who was directly in contact with the suspects," he said to himself with a half-shocked, half-amused smile. I was too surprised to say anything myself, so I just nodded a confirmation and took the chair Riza had pulled out towards me. Roy's eyes narrowed as I sat. "Tell me... Did Envy have _anything_ to do with Hughes's murder?" He cracked his knuckles. I bit my lip.

"I'm sorry," I said, "but I can't say anything. I promised him I wouldn't say anything." I played with the edge of my shirt. Roy growled, but Riza held a hand to stop him from saying anything before he did.

"Now now, Roy, there's no need to push the boy into anything he doesn't want to do," she said with a light voice. "He explained everything to me over the phone last night. Envy may be at fault for some of this, but he's a victim as well." Riza placed her hand over her other one in her lap. "And so is Greed. Their fingerprints are all over the guns - or gun - so it might be hard to prove that they're innocent if we do not have some sort of confession from Dante."

Roy and I exchanged looks. "And what are you trying to get at, Riza?" he asked, looking away from me with a slight turn of his nose. I frowned. He was going to hold a grudge against me, wasn't he?

"I'm saying that one of the boys could wear a wire in this little 'gathering' you told me about, Edward. Say, Greed, because he's the largest. If he wore a wire, we could easily record a confession from her, show it to the police and to a court, and we could have our killer easily taken into custody." She smiled in triumph. "It's a little complicated, but I'm sure we could get something worked out. If Envy and Greed are _really_ innocent."

"I'm not lying," I said quickly, before anyone else could say it. "I told you everything Envy told me, Ms. Riza. I promise that what I heard wasn't a lie. But Greed... He's big, but he's loyal to her. I mean, he doesn't want to be, but he's afraid of her as much as Envy is. If he wore a wire anyone would be able to see it on his face. And Dante has some sort of intuition, so she'd be able to notice it immediately."

"A woman's intuition," Roy muttered dryly. "I still have no idea what's going on, but it seems like Dante keeps coming up as the bad guy in this situation." Riza sighed and picked up her purse.

"I did a little research on this 'Dante' woman, and I found something on a website." She pulled out a folded piece of paper and unfolded it, sliding it across the table towards me. Roy tilted his head to look at it. It was an article written in a different language, but there was a picture that looked exactly like Dante, but with longer hair. "I found another article with the same picture, but it was about a woman who killed her husband and fled from her country. She resembles your psychology teacher very much, doesn't she, Roy?" Riza looked at him seriously.

Roy breathed out something to show his surprise and looked over the article as if he could read it, but he couldn't and looked up at her. "Is the article you read in English?"

Riza nodded solemnly. "It is. I can't remember specifics, but what I do know is that she apparently killed her husband and fled with three children before anyone could figure out it was her. The kids have family in Russia that are desperately trying to find them. I contacted them, but I haven't heard a word from them since." Riza looked through her bag, decided she had nothing left to show us, and closed it. She looked to me. "That sounds similar to the story you told me, correct?"

"It is," I breathed. "It's the same exact story."

"So, if Envy and Greed aren't capable of wearing the wire," she said, "then I guess we have no way of getting the confession."

"I'll do it." I felt my heart jump against my ribcage. Riza glared at me.

"You're not going to do it."

"Well, think about it: Envy won't do it because he's worried about getting me killed; Greed won't do it because his face is an open book to Dante. If _I_ did it, not only would she not be suspicious, but I could probably hide somewhere where I could get a good confession out of her." I lowered my voice as the door opened and a young woman with blonde hair walked in with a friend or sister. I turned back to Riza, ignoring Roy's stern look of protest. "I promise you I could do it."

"No, Edward, I don't like that idea," Roy said. "You may be involved in this somehow, but I'm not about to let you endanger your life by doing this. You're going to stay out of this."

"No way. Either I help, or I tell Envy all about this," I threatened. Riza stiffened. "Dante will figure it out. She's smart." Riza hung her head and shook it.

"You drive a hard bargain, Edward Elric." She looked up at me and glared. "But if there's one moment in which I think your life is about to be endangered, I'm calling backup, and we are getting you out of there, confession or not." She pulled a small microphone and recorder out of her purse and handed it to Roy. "Put this on him."

"Elric, if you aren't the dumbest person in the world, I don't know who is," he snapped. I just grinned and tried to look confident.


	15. Attempt at Suicide

**Because BLSatisfaction and the lovely Syao9 from DeviantArt have requested it, I'll be making an epilogue chapter simply for a lemon. I guess those of you who read _I Want to Heal You_ will get your uke-view lemon now. Enjoy the last chapter! After the next one, I'll be working more on my other Edvy.**

I could feel the dull edge of the recorder digging into my ribcage as I tried to nonchalantly bend over my test. I took in a deep breath, sucking in my stomach, which made wearing the stupid thing a little easier. Lust seemed to notice my awkward position and cocked her brow towards me, but I pretended not to notice and finished off one of the test questions. After next week, we'd begin our midterms and get off for Christmas. I'd return home to see Alphonse, my dad, and the slut hanging off his arm. I was confident that he was still dating her. Goddammit, what was her name? I couldn't remember it.

"All right! Class is over. Please pass up your tests," Mr. Armstrong called. I frowned as I had only gotten to the fourth question (he usually gave us five-question tests). I passed in what answers I had and pulled my books together. Lust gave me a funny look.

"You've been acting weird, lately," she said. "What's up? You're usually not this jumpy." Damn a woman's intuition. I just gave her the best smile I could. She didn't find it amusing in the least. She crossed her arms. "Don't give me that smile. Something's going on."

"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently. "I haven't done anything." I grabbed up my books as the door to Armstrong's room opened and Roy appeared at the doorway. He locked eyes with me almost immediately. Armstrong looked at him and then me.

"I need to see Mr. Elric in my room for a few moments," he said evenly. I nodded and grabbed my books, slipping out of the room as a chorus of "oooo" followed me out. I rolled my eyes and Roy placed a hand on my shoulder as we walked towards his room. He looked around cautiously for Dante. "I can't believe this," he muttered as he walked. "All of this planned in my classroom, and I was completely oblivious to it!" His grip on my shoulder tightened, and I winced.

"Um, you're hurting me." I poked his hand, and he quickly removed it.

"Sorry." He opened his door and pushed me inside, looking down the hall. "Hide your things beneath my desk. They shouldn't be found there. Once you're sure your things are concealed, get into the closet by chalkboard. I cleaned a few things out of it, so you should fit easily."

"Are you trying to call me small?" I challenged. He growled.

"Just get in there!" He closed the door.

I rushed over to his desk, bending down and shoving my things into the furthest corner I could get them into so that she wouldn't see them. Once I had that done, I stood up and placed his chair back in place, turning to the closet. It was about as tall as Armstrong but wide as Roy's shoulders. I managed to get myself squeezed inside, pulled the door shut and pressing myself against the back of it as much as I could without making any noise. The closet was smaller than I thought it was and hot. I could hear myself breathing heavily and tried to breathe slowly through my nose. It helped, but it was still hot. I left myself a sliver of light by keeping the door cracked. I prayed that they wouldn't want to open the closet.

The bell rang again, and I guessed that most of the students were eating lunch at about this time. My heart started pounding, and I guessed that Riza could hear it. She was back inside the cafe, a safe distance from which she could call in reinforcements and come save me should my ass need saving.

"I cannot believe this!" a voice bellowed, and I flinched away from it. It was obviously Dante. I recognized the anger in her tone as her heels slammed against the ground. Envy and Greed were obviously with her, but their footsteps were too weak to hear. I was too afraid to move to spot them. A yardstick was just underneath my leg, and if I moved, it would slam against the door, possibly opening it, but it would definitely give me away.

"This is blasphemy!" she continued. I could imagine her throwing her arms around her head, cheeks flushed. "I can _not_ believe you haven't gotten rid of him yet, Envy. I specifically told you to kill the boy, or I would make you watch your brother die before you killed him yourself." She hit something, and I jumped, trying my best to not move. I placed my hands against both sides of the closet.

"I can't kill!" I heard Envy bellow. "I've been trying to tell you that for _years_. You're fucking deaf!"

"Are you talking back to your mother?" Dante asked sternly.

"No, he's not," Greed said, but it sounded strained, like a lie. "He's just trying to get you to understand."

"Understand what?" Dante asked.

"That I actually have a conscience!" I heard the sharp sound of skin-against-skin. Dante had probably slapped him again. Greed called out for his brother.

"How pathetic, relying on Greed to come save you." Dante's heels came closer to the closet. She stopped. "I guess I'll just have to call Rose and tell her to bring Pride here. Obviously, a simple task like ridding of your roommate is too hard for you." She walked away. I sighed quietly, and then she suddenly stopped. I held my breath, heart pounding in my ears. Did she hear me breathing? I prayed that she didn't.

"I don't rely on him!" Envy retorted.

"Don't call for Pride." Greed's tone was flat, even, but still managed to sound desperate. "If you want to vent anger, do it on me. If you want to kill someone, kill me. But if you touch Envy or Pride _or_ Edward, I swear to God, I'll kill you." Dante laughed sharply.

"Oh please. I'll drag the blonde here by his hair if I have to." I heard a chair scrape against the floor. "You two are too soft to kill anyone. That's why _I_ had to pull the trigger for you, Envy, when you were supposed to kill Hughes. And that's why I had to take matters into my own hands. That first boy, the one Greed was supposed to kill... Gah, he was too curious. He got in the way and we had to get rid of him." Dante sounded tired. My guess was that my living might have had a frustrating effect on her.

"Good luck," I heard Envy spit. "Edward's aware of what you're doing. He's been asking about you for awhile now." I felt my heart nearly stop at my name. "Who knows? He might actually know what's going on." I heard Dante stand, the chair falling against the floor. And something else fell too. I couldn't tell what it was. I froze as best I could as the room got silent. Dante started laughing. I bit my lip and pressed against the closet. It didn't help.

"What?" Greed asked, breaking the silence. Dante started walking slowly. Her footsteps came closer to me.

"About Edward..." She stopped. "You said you couldn't kill him, Envy, am I wrong?"

"Th-That's right." Dante stopped just in front of the closet. Now, I could see her dark purple dress. Her nails entered the crack in the door, and I gasped, immediately regretting it. She suddenly threw open the door, grabbed me by my hair as she had promised, and threw me to the ground. I groaned, crying out as the recorder dug sharply into my stomach. Envy and Greed both made a sound of surprise. I tried to get up, but Dante grabbed me by my hair and hauled me to my feet. I looked at Envy with an apologetic look through my pain.

"E-Edward?" he asked in surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?" He looked mad, worried, and upset all at the same time. I thought he was about to come up and smack me across the face.

"Of all the Goddamn people, it _had_ to be you, huh shorty?" Greed asked with a sour grin. He shook his head. "You have no idea what you have just gotten yourself into." Envy curled his fists.

"Edward Elric, I'm going to kill you," he hissed through his teeth. Dante smirked and pulled me along with her.

"Gah! Let go of me!" I struggled to pry her hands from my hair, but her grip was firm. She pulled something from a small black purse that had been placed on the desk and reached inside it. I couldn't see what it was but something cold and metallic touched my temple. I stopped trying to move.

"Envy, make good on your word." Dante tossed what was in her hand to the floor and kicked it lightly across the room. It took me a few moments to realize that it was a gun. Envy looked down at it and back up to his mother. "You said you would kill him. Why not take the chance now and do it?" She smirked as Envy bent down and picked up the gun. He looked at it and glared at her. She smirked and pulled my head back.

"Kill him, Envy, or I'll do it." Dante put another cold, metallic item to my head, and I guessed it was another gun. She pushed it against my temple. The edge was sharp, digging into my skin. I guessed from the pain that shot across my temple and the blood that ran down the side of my face that it wasn't a gun.

Envy looked to Greed, but the older looked as if he was just as desperate as Envy. He looked back to Dante and me. "All I have to do is kill someone, right?" he asked. Dante chuckled.

"Yes, exactly. That's all you have to do." I could feel her breath against my neck. I shuddered. My heart was pounding against my ribcage. I was definitely sure Riza could hear my heart beating. I prayed that she had called for help a long time ago. I _really _didn't want to die here. Even if it was by Envy's hands, I still didn't want to die here. Alphonse would be destroyed.

"Perfect. Then I'll do it." I could feel the color draining from my face. Greed looked at him in horror.

"E-Envy...!"

"Shut up, Greed. I know what I'm doing." He looked at me with an apologetic smile. And then he raised the gun and pressed it against his own temple. Greed gaped, as I was sure I was doing too, and Dante relaxed herself, pulling the knife away from my head. Her grip on my hair relaxed slightly.

"This is depressing," Envy muttered. He closed his eyes tightly, preparing himself for the pain.

My feet moved before my mind could comprehend. I tore away from Dante, pushing her back, and launched myself as Envy. I snatched his arm away from his head, and he pulled the trigger on the gun. The recoil caused him to drop the gun. My ears rang, my head hurt, but I tightened my grip on Envy's arm, glaring at him as he opened his eyes and looked down at me with surprise. I wanted to slap him, but my eyes stung.

"You idiot!" I yelled, choking out a sob. Envy just grinned and laughed. I let go of him and hit his arm. "It's not funny! I thought you were going to kill yourself!"

"I was," he said.

"_Idiot_!" I hit him again. Greed glared at his brother, but bent down and picked up the gun and hid it behind him. Dante looked at me, Envy, and Greed and screamed out profanities in Russian that made me shrink away from her. Envy and Greed glared at her, but Envy put his arm in front of me, gripping my shirt to keep me from running at her. Like I would have.

"What on earth were you thinking?" Dante shrieked. "You were going to kill yourself instead?"

"I don't blame him," Greed said, dropping the gun. I turned as footsteps began echoing from the hallway. The recorder was digging into my stomach. Dante looked up to the door as it slammed open and Riza rushed inside with five other officers behind her. She pointed her gun at Dante, who stopped dead in her tracks.

"Freeze!" Riza yelled. "You're under arrest, Dante, for the murder of your husband, a minor, and Maes Hughes!" Riza put her gun into her holster as two of the officers grabbed the woman and tried to subdue her. She flailed and tried to get away from them, dropping the knife in the process. She was wrestled to the ground, but even then she didn't stop squirming.

"Edward, are you all right?" she asked. She sounded out of breath. I managed to smile, but my legs were shaking. I leaned against Envy for support in case my legs gave out. He put his arm around me.

"I'm okay," I said, but my voice was shaky and didn't help me.

"H-How did you know what was going on?" Envy asked. Riza looked towards me. I reached under my shirt and pulled the recorder and microphone out, grinning sheepishly as Envy gave me a look. I shrugged and Riza pulled the device from my hands. "You were eavesdropping on us?"

"For a good cause!" I held my hands up. "It was to help you!" Envy and Greed exchanged looks with each other. Roy came in quickly, standing beside Riza as the men managed to get Dante under control. She was slumped over, crying, yelling, but she had given up on trying to fight them off.

"You three might want to leave," Riza suggested. "You wouldn't want to be here if any of the other teachers stumble across the campus. I'd suggest going to your dorm rooms." She turned to Dante. Roy looked down at her and glared. Riza placed a hand on his shoulder. Envy grabbed my arm and pulled me away as he followed Greed out of Roy's classroom. He turned back towards me.

"You realize how stupid you were acting back there?" he scolded. "What happened to your brain?"

"I told you to stay away from her, didn't I, shorty?" Greed said sharply. "And what do you do? You actually get _close_ to her. I mean, sure, it was a good thing. But honestly, you just scared Envy and me half to death!" I felt a small spark of pride in my chest slowly turn to nothing. I was getting scolded for saving their skins. What an ego-boost.

"On the other hand," Envy said, "you _did_ help us. That was pretty awesome." The three of us exited the building, shivering in the cold December wind. I could have sworn that it dropped three degrees while we were inside.

Once we were inside the dorm building, Greed split off to go to his room, and Envy and I crashed in ours. I fell onto my bed with a sight. I would have a bruise on my stomach where the recorder was, I swear I would. I closed my eyes and put my arms underneath my head. The bed dipped beside me, and something tickled my face. I opened my eyes to meet with Envy's. His eyes weren't cold and sharp anymore. They were warm and still held that hidden lust in them. He smirked when I opened my eyes.

"Oh no, I'm not letting you go to sleep," he said slyly. I felt myself blush as he leaned down closer so that our lips just barely brushed. I leaned forward, trying to kiss him, but he moved away. I frowned and made a noise to show him I didn't appreciate it. "You didn't listen, and now you have to take your punishment." I was about to ask him what kind of "punishment" I was going to receive when he pressed his lips against mine, moving them slowly and sensually, snaking his fingers through my throbbing scalp. I felt myself relax against him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. His tongue slipped through my lips, and I lost any capability to think.


	16. Merry Christmas, Edward & Envy!

**Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed it, because you all have one more present coming from yours truly~ Special love goes out to my friends! You know who you are.  
I feel I could have done better. I'm a bit rusty. Maybe I should write a few more lemons to get back into practice. But one thing's for sure: eating a candy cane while writing a lemon gives you really dirty images that _never go away_.  
**

"What's the matter, Edward? You look a little angry," Envy mused, smiling at me from the foot of the bed as I crossed my arms and glared at him. I blew a lock of hair out of my eyes before answering.

"I don't know, let's see: first, you trick me by saying you want me to meet your grandfather; second, you kidnap me and take me to freaking Russia! And third, I'm so cold, I lost feeling in my toes! Why the hell is it so cold here?" I shivered. Envy saw that as a reason to move over right next to me and press his thin shirt against me so that I could feel his body heat and took it. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his lap, legs crossed. I gave up at being mad at him and leaned against his chest, closing my eyes as his heart beat against my shoulder.

"If you're cold, I can fix that," he whispered, hot breath hitting against my ear. I shivered again. There were few charms that Envy could use against me to make me melt, and he knew just wich ones to use against me. He figured out soon enough that I liked him breathing heavily on the back of my neck. His grip tightened around my waist, and I melded against him.

Here's what had happened in the last two weeks: after Dante was arrested, she went through trials, was found guilty, and is now in a nice, damp prison cell for trying to jump and strangle a member of the jury in court. And then, after cramming for finals in hopes of getting good grades, Envy told me he would be spending Christmas with his relatives in Russia, and asked me if I'd see him off at the airport. After a few kisses (and gropings on Envy's part) I agreed, and was then formally kidnapped. I say formally, because as soon as his grandfather laid eyes on me, he hook my arm with his, tore me away from my boyfriend, and led me onto a plane where the rest of Envy's psycho-family jumped on before it took off. And now, Alphonse was mad because he would have to deal with the new "Mommy" along during the holidays.

"How long do you plan on keeping me here?" I asked, thinking of how my brother was really going to hand it to me when I returned. Envy seemed to actually give it thought, as if he didn't know when he was going to go back.

"Just until after New Years." He nuzzled into the back of my neck.

"And are you going to stay here?" I secretly hoped he wouldn't. I'd get bored back at the school if he left.

Envy snorted.

"And leave you defenseless to the dirty talons of those upperclassmen?" he replied with a sultry laugh. "Never! Of course I'm coming back with you."

" 'Defenseless'?"

He pulled me tighter to him. I leaned my cheek against his hair, taking in a deep breath. The room was very warm, the bed was soft, and I felt I could probably live happily in that room without ever having to move.

"Sure. If you can't fight back against me, how are you going to fight against the juniors? And those pesky seniors? How on earth could I leave you alone?" He bit my neck, making me gasp like a girl. I flushed at the noise that came from my throat.

"I-I can fight you off if I wanted to!" I argued, trying not to let Envy see the obvious blush on my cheeks. I regretted my argument instantly when he pulled completely away, laughing.

"Well then, how about _now_!" I didn't see him move, but I felt myself whirled around and slammed against the bed, hands held over my head submissively. I looked up, meeting violaceous eyes filled with light. Envy's face was centimeters away from mine, our noses touched, and he was grinning. I tried to struggle, but of course, he was stronger than I was. I glared at him, hoping to be intimidating, but he just laughed and kissed me. "See? What did I tell you? You're defenseless."

"Am I, Envy?" I asked with a smirk. As I was hoping, he cocked his brow and pulled away. I took that moment of hesitation to my advantage and managed to get the better of him. I put my knee between us and knocked him away, tackling him. I grabbed his wrists with both of my hands and held them out to his side, grinning with pride as he blinked, trying to process what had happened. Once he had figured out that I had gotten the best of him, he frowned.

"That was dirty," he said.

"So was getting me from behind! But you don't hear me complaining!" I laughed. Envy smirked. With lightening speed, he jerked his hand from mine and grabbed my shirt. I clenched my eyes shut, ready for him to throw me to the ground or throw me against the bed again. He pulled me towards him instead, crashing our lips together almost painfully. I didn't fight him off this time, grabbing his shirt tightly in my fingers.

And then the moment was ruined as someone knocked on the door. I pulled away and Envy groaned.

"What?" he called, pushing me off him. I growled.

"We're going out into town and wanted to know if you'd like to come with us," his grandfather, Wrath, opened the door. Envy stood up and stretched. I was still lying across the bed, arms folded underneath my head, looking back towards the old man upside down. He glanced at me and smiled.

"Nah, we're just going to hang out here. I'd prefer to spend my winter break _not_ hassled by reporters." Envy placed his hands on his hips. "You guys on without us. We'll see you when you get back." And by us, he meant himself and me. Meaning that while his grandfather and brothers were out doing whatever, we would be the only two in the house. My heart nearly skipped a beat when I thought about it.

"All right. I'll see you both later. Are you sure you don't want to come, Edward?" Wrath turned toward me. He must have been speaking in English so I wouldn't get confused.

"I'll be fine," I replied, waving.

"All right. Well, I'll see you two later." Wrath waved and turned quickly, leaving the room. As soon as the door closed, I fell against the bed.

"Looks like it'll be just you and me tonight," I said, looking up as Envy popped his elbows. He smirked.

"Indeed, it will be." He came over and sat on the bed in front of me. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning against his broad shoulders. "So, what do you feel like doing? They'll be gone for awhile." He grabbed my wrist, pulling it to his mouth and kissing my palm.

"Anything you feel like doing," I said. "I really don't care."

"What if I feel like kissing you?" he asked.

"I don't care." I let my fingers touch his cheek.

"And if I want to hold you?" He turned and pulled me tightly against him. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, smelling something spicy and clean on him. His arms were strong, tight around me. If I wanted to get away from him (like I would), there was no way I could. As he had proved to me before, he was stronger.

"You're already holding me," I answered. He paused.

"I mean, _hold_ you. You know..." He trailed off into silence. I pulled away and looked at him. His eyes were averted, towards the door. On his cheeks was a bright tint of blush. He ducked his head.

"Envy..."

"Y-You know what? Forget I said anything. It's not important. You don't have to answer...," he stammered nervously. I frowned. "It was stupid of me to ask."

"..." I pinched his cheek, pulling it so he was looking at me. He yelped and slapped my hand away, glaring and rubbing the red, throbbing area of his face. "Look at me if you're gonna ask something like that," I ordered. He seemed surprised, I think, because his brow rose slightly. There was an agonizing pause. He wasn't saying anything. "Well?"

" 'Well' what?" he replied, stilling looking at me with that surprised glance. I rolled my eyes.

"Dammit, Envy. If you're going to go as far as to ask something like that, look me in the eyes when you do," I scolded. He blushed.

"F-Fine," he replied. I thought his ears were going to turn red along with his face. "Could I hold you?"

I tried to fight back a laugh. His face was stark red. He looked like an apple. So, I compromised with smiling. He seemed to brighten up a bit.

"If you want to."

Envy hesitated. He seemed to be holding himself back from me. I leaned closer, placing my hand on his leg to keep from falling on my face. His flush darkened. And then, his eyes narrowed, set sternly at me. "I'm taking you seriously," he said.

"Good. You _should_ take me seriously." I leaned closer so that he would feel my breath on his lips. "I'm waiting on you to make the first move, Envy. What's it going to be?" I cocked my head slightly, brushing my lips barely against his. He tensed.

I hated being the one to make the first move. It wasn't normally what I did. But, if that was what it was going to take to get Envy to take the initiative, well I was willing to do it. However, the shortened distance between us seemed to give him a bit of courage. His arms wound tightly around my waist, pulling me towards him. His hands felt up my thigh slowly, massaging me, making me shiver in anticipation. I hadn't ever felt anything like it, and my stomach curled inwards as he kissed me slowly. I put my hans on the back of his neck, tilting my head, trying to deepen the kiss as much as possible.

I didn't realize he had pushed me back until I felt the soft mattress against my back, the pillow against the back of my head, and Envy's weight pressing gingerly against me. The mattress sunk beneath us as Envy pulled away, using his elbows to hold himself up, and pressed his lips against my neck. My pulse beat against his lips as he kissed me, moving his lips in an erotic pattern over my neck. He parted his lips and licked my neck, hot breath stinging my skin. I gasped. Envy seemed pleased with the noise and pulled back before biting the skin teasingly. I couldn't stop myself from squirming, crying out as his bit down slightly harder. A small pain shot out from the side of my neck. Envy's tongue grazed up the area slowly.

His hand found its way up my shirt, moving with the dips of my torso. My shirt was pushed up to my shoulders, and I helped Envy quickly pull it off before he returned to kissing me, hands feeling themselves across my chest, remembering every tiny detail of me. I clenched his shirt tightly in my fists, tugging at it to try and get him to take it off. He pulled away for a moment, sitting on his knees as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it randomly with mine on the floor. He held his hand in front of me. I laced my fingers with his as he bent back down to kiss me.

Envy 's fingers found their way to my jeans, slipping his thumb underneath the band of my underwear. He was serious about taking me. I knew he was serious, and I still felt nervous about it. He fumbled with the button of my jeans but managed to get it unhooked and undid the zipper, slipping my loose jeans off my hips. I arched as his hands slowly slid my jeans off, kissing my lips hotly, fingers lightly brushing my newly-exposed skin. It tingled as his fingertips slowly moved down my legs.

I clenched my eyes shut as he removed the last two pieces of clothing from me, leaving me entirely exposed. I could just feel his eyes looking over me, making sure not to miss seeing a square inch of my body. My face heated up. I was sure that I was blushing profusely. I could literally feel the heat rise to my cheeks. I was, well, pretty aroused. Really aroused. I was turned the hell on! And Envy was now aware of that.

"Open your eyes, Edward," I heard him whisper, feeling his lips moving against the skin beside my ear. "Don't be embarrassed."

I couldn't help it, honestly. Who _wouldn't_ be embarrassed? We had been barely dating for a month, and here we were, in bed together! And I was the only one naked. Fuck.

Envy kissed me again, coaxing my lips apart as his tongue slowly slipped between my lips and twisted with mine. The coil moved again, and I thought I was going to be sick. But I forgot about the coil as Envy's thumb slowly raked over my cheek, feeling cool against my burning flush. He pulled away to breathe, licking my lips tauntingly. A moan erupted from my chest, surprising myself. But Envy didn't seem to mind. I opened my eyes as he moved away from me. He was back on his knees, shimmying out of his own pants. In the next moment, both of us were completely bare, pressing against each other, trying to remember every dip, curve, scar, and birthmark of the other's body. As my fingers raked his shoulders, I noticed a small, thin line of puckered skin, where signs of serious abuse were evident. I could feel more invisible scars as Envy's lips moved from my neck to my chest.

And from my chest to my hips.

And then he took me in his mouth, and I nearly screamed with pleasure. Technically, from the loud gasp that escaped my mouth, I did. I could feel every ounce of pleasure as he teased, stroked; everything was so sensitive. I grabbed at the sheets, fighting with myself to keep from yelling out. The coil in my stomach returned, fire hot against my guts. I bit my knuckle hard to keep from crying out, whimpering against my skin. Envy pressed harder, making his movements jerkier. He wanted me to scream. My knuckle throbbed from how hard my teeth were digging. I whimpered louder, trying not to moan. My finger was losing feeling. I pulled it from my mouth for only a second.

One second was enough for me to nearly cry in ecstasy. The coil seemed to get hotter before disappearing with a hot flash. My muscles ached. My chest hurt, and I felt tired. The finger I had bitten was throbbing painfully. I thought I had bitten through the skin and caused myself to bleed, but I forced myself to open my eyes. There was dark purple bite-marks over the sides of my index finger, and I thought I could literally see the skin swelling up.

Envy kissed my neck, chuckling against it. "You're so cute when you orgasm," he murmured against my jugular. "Your face is bright red, eyes shut so tightly..."

"S-Shut up," I stuttered, trying to keep from looking him in the eye. If I did, I'd start blushing again, and I'd feel too self-conscious.

Envy chuckled against my jugular and his fingers slowly moved against my scalp, easing my hair out of its ponytail so that it was lying around my head and ears freely. He kissed me again, wrapping me in pure bliss, and before I felt something pushing against me. And slowly, it moved in. I gasped and tensed, and Envy kissed my nose. He murmured something to me that I didn't understand. He kissed around my face softly; my cheeks, eyes, lips, anything he could to try and get me to relax. And whatever was inside of me had started to move in and out, thrusting steadily. The coil inside of me returned with a passion. I could feel it hot against my stomach.

"Ah!" I gasped loudly, arching harshly against Envy. He kissed my open mouth.

The object seemed to get bigger, moving quicker in me. I squirmed underneath him, fingers digging into his shoulders. I was glad I had clipped my nails. I would have left impressions in his skin that probably would have broken through and started bleeding. Envy groaned at the pain that probably had gone through his muscles.

Envy removed the object from my, er, entrance. He pulled away from me, raking his thumb carefully over my cheekbone. He looked down at me through misty, lust-filled eyes. I remembered that same look he had given me when he kissed me after I confronted him about Hughes's death. Back then, I was both flattered and scared. Now, I was just slightly scared. There were a few down-sides to being a virgin.

Exhibit A: pain.

Envy had moved himself in slowly, pain ripping through me. I clenched my eyes fighting back a pained whimper by biting my lip. Envy groaned as his hips met mine, and he bent down to kiss me.

"It's going to hurt for a while," he whispered to me. "Relax; it'll help against the pain."

I tried to take his advice. I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and managed to relax myself, despite the pain in my ass. Envy wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling his face into my neck. He pulled his hips back, moving out before jerking back in, making me gasp and cry out from both pain and pleasure. Something about the way he had moved made stars flash in my eyes, making the world disappear for a moment before it returned. I could feel Envy moving against me, trying to make this endurable for me.

"E-Envy," I moaned. "Th-There... again..." I gasped again, gripping his shoulders as he hit me again, stars dancing across my vision and blinding me. I could see Envy's striking eyes through them.

"This way?" he asked in a sultry tone, jerking back into me in the same way. I gasped again, moaning as my muscles tightened and heat coursed through my veins. My breathing became labored. I swallowed as he continued to move against me. His pace quickened. I couldn't stop myself from moaning and yelling, repeating his name over and over breathlessly. Envy kissed my neck, my shoulder, my cheek, my lips, anything he could, groaning with me. My name rolled from his lips beautifully. I loved the way he said it.

"A-ah... Ah... Envy..." I breathed deeply, that spicy scent from earlier mixed in with the smell of sweat and sex. The coil in my stomach was getting hotter again. I could feel it burning against my stomach again. But all I could think about was Envy, his body against mine. I couldn't process anything else. Sweat had made my skin slick and wet, and my hair was sticking to me like it was glued to my shoulders.

I gasped loudly, feeling the coil in my gut burst. Envy's body shuddered before he called my name loudly. I felt something hot shoot through me. He fell onto me as I gasped, breathing heavily. I closed my eyes, exhausted. I didn't want to move. Except that the sweat and seed was turning sticky. Gross.

Envy pulled himself off me, lying down beside me. His arm was over my waist possessively. His eyes were closed too, chest heaving up and down. He turned towards me and smiled. I grinned back to him.

"I need a shower," I told him. He laughed.

"Me too," he replied, rolling on his stomach and pushing himself up. "Want to shower together?" He waggled his eyebrows. I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"Sure. Hey! Stop groping me!"


End file.
